Dirty Freedom
by Ccanga
Summary: Hey there! This fic will be human, a long and very badass one! Quite different from the show. DOCCUBUS! "Girls. Booze. Girls. Fighting. Girls. In that order. Because girls are the beginning, middle, and end. They are everything that is terrible and sexy and perfect with the world, but you still need the other two." Rated M for dirty reasons.
1. Chapter 1

Hey there! This is my first fic, I'm spanish so you'll have to forgive any spelling mistakes. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing. This is all human,but a very badass one, Doccubus! Without the Dyson's drama, I like his character though so he'll be in my story. Just read to find more! Thanks for everything! I would love your reviews :) c.

_Bo's POV_

_Girls. Booze. Girls. Fighting. Girls. In that order. Because girls are the beginning, middle, and end. They are everything that is terrible and sexy and perfect with the world, but you still needthe other two. You need the booze to handle the girls. You need the fighting to keep them._

That was why I went to the pub. My almost, but not quite, 'cause I slept with other girls too many times' girlfriend had dumped my ass. I deserved it. I also deserved a drink, or six. So Dyson dragged me to Dahl and lined up shots on the bar. We raced. That was how we did it. Loser bought. I let the warmth wash over me, through me. My throat, stomach, hands, eyes burned with each sharp crack of the glasses on the bar. We fell to our pattern of playing pool until it was dangerous for bystanders, drinking more when we started to sober up.

When it got late, we stumbled out to the parking lot. We weren't driving. That would've just been stupid. So we waited for our ride while staring at the dark buildings across the parking lot and trying to stay upright. These guys from inside followed us out. All night they'd stared at us, the type that's too pathetic to say something when they got a problem. They looked young, just out of high school, and looking for a way to prove themselves.

"Dyke," was the first word they could manage. Dyson and I laughed. I could take it. People had called me that before, and I wasn't going to get all worked up over some kid talking shit.

"Good one," Dyson managed to giggle. Neither of us was exactly eloquent when we drank.

"Shut the fuck up, pussy," the shorter one spat at him. He was kind of stocky, like a wrestler.

"Yeah, fuckin' fag," the taller one contributed. Dyson wasn't a fag, though, and he certainly wasn't a pussy.

"You guys should try for some originality." Damn, that was hard to say when I was plastered.

"Yeah, originality," echoed Dyson. "Hey." He turned to me. "Where the fuck is Kenzi?" I'd been the one to call our ride.

"Fuck if I know." We were dismissing the idiots. If they didn't catch on, it was their issue.

Two hands planted on my back and shoved me forward. "You got a problem, bitch?" It was the wrestler.

I was fine with leaving them to their ignorance, but no one, and I mean fuckin' no one, touched me. Slowly, I turned around. Dyson tugged at my shirt, telling me to leave it alone. Shorty was up in my face, looking pissy.

"Kiddo, you can walk away. If you don't, I'm gonna punch your teeth out." Dyson stopped pulling on my shirt. He knew what followed that line.

The kid just laughed. So I slapped him. When he came at me again, I punched him in the face. That totally pissed him off. He lunged at me and we ended up on the asphalt. That's no good. If someone's a wrestler, don't let him get you on the ground. I was only down for a couple seconds though before I felt hands, four of them, grab and pull me up. The tall kid was holding his buddy back. I struggled a bit before I realized it was Kenzi and Dyson holding me. They didn't let go when I stopped resisting. Instead, they dragged me and tossed me in the backseat of Kenzi's (I was sure it wasn't really hers) car.

"Watch your back, little boy," I screamed before Kenzi shut the door. From the confines of the backseat, I watched Dyson stumble around the car to climb in the passenger seat. Kenzi got behind the wheel and peeled out of the parking lot.

"Honey, I've dragged your ass away from more fights than I can count on two hands," Kenzi said in his singsong voice. "And, sweetness"—he looked at me in the mirror—"you look awful."

"My hero," I managed as I dragged myself upright and found my seat belt.

"What did those guys do?" Kenzi turned to Dyson.

"They deserved it," Dyson replied. He always sided with me. "One of them pushed her."

"Learn to walk away," Kenzi said real slowly to me. "I'll work on that." "Thanks for picking us up, Kenz." Dyson reclined his seat a bit.

"What time is it anyway?" "Just after one. You're lucky you're hot," Kenzi told him. "I don't leave my warm bed for just anyone." "You know it, girl." Dyson didn't say girl normally. Just with Kenzi. The alcohol might have contributed too.

"So what's the occasion?" Kenzi talked a lot. She didn't like silences. "Your girlfriend dump you again?" Dyson shook his head. "No, that was two weeks ago. This time it was Bo's."

Kenzi gave me another look in the mirror. "That hot little butch number? She finally did it?" "Yeah. Got a hold of my cell phone." She grimaced. "Text messages?" "Yeah. Never let them get the cell phone," I half told her and half told myself. "You could just stop cheating on them," she offered sagely. Dyson started laughing.

"I don't." They turned in their seats to gawk at me. "They assume we're exclusive. None of them ask me."

"Yeah. They're the ones with issues," Kenzi said. "Shut up, Kenz," I said like I almost meant it.

Dyson clumsily extracted himself from the front seat when we stopped in front of his house, a beige monument to suburban monstrosities. He leaned back into the car. "You coming in, Kenz?"

"No. I have work in the morning. I'll see you at the Dahl though, right?" Dyson nodded and started weaving toward the front door. I followed him until we were upstairs where we collapsed on a couch.

"Are we going back to the Dahl?"

"Already? We just left." He sort of fell off the couch and started setting up the Super Nintendo. We were old-school like that.

"No. Kenz said she'd see you at the Dahl." I caught the controller he tossed me and righted myself so I could see the screen.

"Yeah, tomorrow night."

Tomorrow night. There was some meaning there. It was hard to think through the drunken haze.

"Shit." It hit me. Lauren was coming back, and everyone was going to the pub to welcome her home. "I hate your sister." She was his step-sister, they didn't look similar at all though.

"She hates you too." Dyson's shoulder brushed mine as he leaned. The player on his half of the screen did the same thing. Dyson was the type to move with his characters, as if that helped.

"Why doesn't she just stay at Yale for the summer?" Lauren went to Yale. Of course, she went to Yale. Me and Dyson, state college all the way. I couldn't afford a school like that anyway. Dyson didn't care enough.

"You think she should just stay at Yale?" he said like I was being an asshole. "That's nice of you."

"It's not like I'm her favorite either." I paused the game and tossed my controller to the ground.

"I don't care. I'm pumped. I haven't seen her in over a month." He slid to the floor in front of me. His back was propped against the couch, and all I could see was the smooth, blonde hair covering the back of his head.

"Do you miss her when she's gone?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. As if they were twins, they're always connected even if they're a million miles away from each other.

"You coming with me tomorrow?"

"To the airport?" I knew someone had to go with him to help Lauren carry all her crap to the car. That girl brought so much shit to college and back home it blew my mind.

"Yeah." His head dropped back against the cushions so that I couldn't tell if he was tired or if it was the booze.

"I guess."

A slow grin spread across his face. "I love you." Yep, he was still drunk.

"Get up. Get up. Get up." Dyson fell onto the bed next to me. He took my blanket and wrapped it around himself. Then he tried to take my pillow so I pushed him onto the floor.

"Five more minutes," I said as I curled up with the pillow. "No, I woke up late," he said from the floor. "We only have an hour." "That's plenty of time." It wasn't.

"We're gonna be late. If you want a shower, get your ass up." I headed down the hallway and shut the door of the bathroom behind me. When I was done showering, I towel dried my hair as much as posible.

"Let me in. I want a shower too." So I opened the door.

"Calm down. Does it really matter if we're late?" I didn't see why Lauren's plane was coming in so early in the first place.

Dyson just rolled his eyes and said, "You can borrow some of my jeans if you want."

It would have been logical to have more than T-shirts and underwear at Dyson's. Too bad I wasn't logical.

We were only five minutes late to the airport. Traffic had been kind. As we approached the correct terminal, Dyson handed me his phone.

"See if she's here yet." We couldn't stop and wait at the curb. Obviously. So we just had to circle until Lauren showed. That was where I came in. I texted Tamsin to see if she had landed. She said she was going to baggage claim.

I waited on the sidewalk for her. I wasn't going to wander around until I found the right baggage claim. She could come get me.

If not for the familiar haughty stride she'd maintained since childhood, I wouldn't have recognized her. Her face was different. It was all wrong. The chubby cheeks were slimmer, giving way to the kind of perfect cheekbones and jawline that models would paid serious cash for. My initial urge was to let my jaw drop, my tongue hang out, and start panting like a dog. Instead, I clenched my teeth and summoned the most predatory and bored look I could.

" Lo! I've been waiting for you." She turned and glared disdainfully. "Well, come on. Give me a hug." I held out my arms as if she couldn't wait to throw herself into them. The small bag she was carrying hit me hard in the chest. I barely had time to catch it before she spun and walked back toward the building. Her tight little ass twitched in her short skirt with every step.

"My bags are this way. I thought Dyson was smart enough to bring someone who would be able to carry them," she called over her shoulder loud enough for anyone within a fifty-foot radius to hear. "I guess you'll have to make two trips."

"Darlin', you know I can handle anything you've got." There was a slight hitch in her step. "Don't worry. When we get home I'll remind you." I was being a little too obnoxious. It wasn't my fault. I had two semesters of annoying her to make up for.

"I haven't even been in California five minutes and I already feel nauseous," was all she said to me until I'd pulled all the bags she silently pointed out. I should have gotten a cart to carry them. I didn't because I wasn't going to let her win. I stacked and slung them until my T-shirt wasn't visible through the straps and I couldn't really feel my arms.

"Is that everything, princess?" I pretended that my extremities were not tingling and my lungs were perfectly capable of filling withair. "Why? Can't you carry any more?" She wasn't even watching the bags going past us. "I'll carry you if you don't get your ass moving." I nodded in the direction of the doors. "Oh, Bo, I'm so impressed," Lauren responded flatly. At least she also started walking. When Dyson pulled to the curb, he jumped out, opened the back of his 4Runner for me, and tackled Lauren in a massive hug. She squealed and let him spin her around. I was going to hurl from the sibling love. I channeled my disgust into throwing her luggage in the back. They were like that the whole way back. She would reach over and play with his hair, tell him she liked the new cut. He acted affronted when he saw the little glint from a new piercing at the top of her ear. Apparently, it's uncool to get a piercing without your brother present. Lauren pulled her hair back to give him the full effect. Her hair was way longer than when I'd last seen her. When was the last time I'd seen her? Almost a year.

As soon as we got to their house, I took off. As much as I loved Dyson, I hated Lauren. I didn't care if it was just because I was jealous.


	2. Pierced

Hey there! Thanks for all that visits, I already have some chapters ready, so I'll post them quite often. I wanted to say this is gonna get more adventurous, but I planned this as a long story (only if you guys like it), there will be guns and pain at some point and doccubus, of course! I would love to read your opinions, whatever they are! xx C.

The Dahl was packed when I showed up. Everyone was in the backyard, a little fenced in place with dilapidated picnic tables and foliage to hide the road. After giving hugs and high fives to everyone and a single dramatic kiss to Kenzi, I sat on the tabletop with my feet on the bench. Dyson and Lauren were on the bench next to me, Kenzi on my other side. Tamsin and Hale sprawled in wooden chairs across from us.

"Hey, Bo" Lauren said.

"What's up, hotpants?" I asked in the most sickly sweet voice possible.

Lauren looked like she swallowed something disgusting. It took a second for her to compose her face. "Why don't you kiss the boys?" she asked like she was actually interested. It had to be a trick.

"'Cause they have scratchy faces. Why don't you kiss boys?" Cynicism should always be met with sarcasm.

"That's not what I mean." Lauren leaned back against the table to see me better. "I mean you kiss Kenzi, but you give the rest of the guys high fives."

"I don't follow." I looked at Hale and Dyson to see if they got it. They looked lost too.

"Don't follow what?" Tamsin returned with my beer. "Lauren wants to know why I don't kiss boys," I explained. "Eww." She looked appropriately disgusted. "Why would you kiss a dude?" "Not a dude," Lauren cut in again. "You guys." At that, Tamsin's eyes got big and his mouth turned down. "That would be wrong. Like queer, but..." She thought real hard for a second. "What's the opposite of queer?"

"Straight," everyone responded.

"No," Tamsin said. "If Bo kissed a guy, it would be like Dyson kissing a guy." It was fun to watch her try to explain why I kissed girls. "Like, Dy was born to like girls." The guys and I nodded in encouragement. "So was Bo, so it would be sick if she kissed a dude, just like it would be sick if he did."

"That was kind of poetic." Kenzi sounded appropriately reverent.

"Okay, but you still didn't answer my question." Lauren hated when we all agreed. "Because I kiss all of you guys on the cheek when I see you, but—"

"Oh, but you like chicks too," Tamsin cut in. "So you're wondering, if you're both gay, why doesn't Bo kiss"—she grimaced again—"them if you do."

"Yeah."

"'Cause she's one of us," Hale offered. "You're not." He was never one to think before speaking.

Lauren looked pissed. "I'm not one of you?"

"He didn't mean it like that." Dyson put a comforting hand on Lauren's shoulder.

"Bo chases girls. I think that's what he means," Kenzi jumped in, always the peacemaker. So helpful.

"Okay, so she is a womanizer and I'm not?" Leave it to Lauren to make me sound like an asshole.

"Exactly. If only you abused more women you could be part of the club." I gave her my sad, serious face. This was why I hated Lauren. She could turn the most innocent conversation into a discussion of how evil I was. She only did it to make me feel shitty. She knew that when I went home I would obsess for days about whether or not I was a womanizing asshole. So I just did what I always did, played it cool.

"I wasn't trying to be a jerk." Lauren tried to backpedal. "I was just making an observation."

Hale started laughing. "You were trying to be a jerk. It's cool. We love to watch you guys argue."

"Fuck off, Hale" she said.

"Why doesn't everybody just chill?" Dyson was the only one who hated it when I argued with his sister.

A chorus of "fine," rippled through the group finished by Lauren and me.

When I went inside the pub, I started weaving through the masses of people toward the bathroom. Halfway across the room, I saw something that made me stop dead. Lauren was at the bar and some guy was all up on her. She was holding her ground, but I could tell she wasn't having fun. Her shoulders were squared and her eyes narrow so that even in the dim light I could see them killing the guy a foot away from her. Dyson and the guys were all outside. Fuck it. I pushed my way to where they were.

"How's it going?" I positioned myself just barely in between them. The guy looked me up and down and decided I wasn't a threat.

"Fine. We're trying to, ya know, talk." He angled his back against the bar so his body was brushing against Lauren. I almost decked him.

"It's fine, babe." Lauren touched my arm. "I was just coming back outside." She smiled so that it seemed like she couldn't see anyone or anything, only me. It was all a lie, but he didn't need to know that. I slid an arm around her waist protectively.

"You sure?" I said in her ear like it was meant for only her, but I made sure I was loud enough for the prick watching us to hear. He looked like he might throw up.

"Sorry." Lauren looked at him like she cared. "I've really got to go back outside." She threaded her fingers into the hair at the base of my neck and started playing with it. My spine slowly started melting at her soft touch.

"Fuck that shit," he muttered as he turned away and sauntered back to his friends.

Lauren leaned against me so she wasn't facing the guy anymore. "Is he still looking?" Her lips brushed my ear slightly.

"Oh, yeah." He was scowling from across the room. Lauren moved her mouth down my neck kissing and licking my skin. "He doesn't look happy." We were putting on a show. I had to keep her updated.

"I think he's had enough." Her lips were on my ear again. "Come on." She slid her hand into mine and pulled me to the back door. The guy was still scowling. Right before we rejoined our friends, she dropped my hand and said, "Thanks, Bo."

I nodded in response. We'd run the same scam a thousand times when people didn't understand the meaning of no. I tried to act like this time was the same. But it was the first time her warm breath and lips against my skin had made my entire body feel seared.

Kenzi was awesome. Not the best for picking up girls though. That's why I loved Dyson. He knew what was up. But we were at the gay club, which meant Dyson was at home getting stoned and watching series.

"What about that one?" Kenz used his drink to indicate a very pretty boy.

I looked at her like I was ofended "Okay, okay. There." We kept searching.

Kenz gave me a weird look. "Dark blonde hair, brown eyes, short skirt? Looks kinda haughty? Not hottie, but haughty." she giggled.

"That's the one."

"I can see her nipples from here." she said it like it was a bad thing. "You notice anything about her?" I shook my head. I didn't know what that meant. "She doesn't remind you of anyone?"

"No, what do you mean?" She was super hot. Other than that, I didn't know what the hell she was talking about.

"Nothing. Go get 'em, tiger." It was an awkward sort of encour- agement, kind of skeptical.

Her name was...well, something. She seemed cool. And she didn't want to dance. Big plus for me. The warm breath on my neck was making me horny. It had been too long. Okay, my girlfriend had dumped me less than a week before, but I was young and I had needs.

Up close, her dimples were too deep for normalcy. Upon more careful inspection, I could see the piercing scars at the center of each.

"Those hurt?" I lightly touched one. She leaned in even closer.

"Not really." The words poured from her thick, like honey. "I like getting new piercings."

"I've never gotten one."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Never?" There was a quick inspection of my ears, which were without adornment. "Ever think about it?"

"I guess." I shrugged. It never seemed to be a priority to shove a metal bar through my skin. "Seems painful."

"It's not bad. Addicting though." As we talked, her face seemed to get closer and closer to mine. Fine by me. Her breath smelled of mint and cloves. When she spoke, she whispered against my lips.

"I have plenty of vices. Promise." She laughed in response. The laugh was what bothered me I decided. It was too infectious, too bubbly, giving the impression that she found everything funny. Maybe it wasn't the laugh. Maybe I just didn't feel like it. No, that couldn't be it. I was twenty fucking years old. Anything that stood still long enough should have been potential humping material. And I was definitely horny. It was probably the laugh. I was contemplating the meaning behind that when I looked up. Lauren was on the edge of the dance floor locked in a slow, sensuous grind with a gorgeous girl. Their heads were bent forward so their hair mingled together shielding their faces. The chick's hand was delicately resting on Lauren's ass. I was instantly wet and disgusted at my body's response.

I did the sensible thing and kissed the girl in front of me. I couldn't take it anymore. At the velvet glide of her tongue, I braced my back against the wall, pulling her into me. She was holding on to my shirt like it might suddenly fall off. It was excruciating to keep my hands from sliding up that short skirt into the waiting heat. Instead, I dug my nails into the soft flesh of her thigh. She moaned into my mouth. She circled her fingers around my bicep and slid them down until they intertwined with mine against her leg. I thought she was going to push me away, but instead she directed my hand up. My fingertips brushed damp cotton. Just as I eased a finger underneath to push the underwear aside, she pulled away. Her eyes looked over bright and she was breathing damn hard.

"Let's go."

"Yeah," I responded brilliantly. As she grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward the door, I looked up. Lauren was still dancing, but her eyes were following my progress. To anyone else looking she would have appeared totally nonchalant and unconcerned with anything happening around her. If I didn't know her so well, I would have seen the same thing as everyone else. Instead, I saw a sort of cold fury that she thought I was oblivious to. She was glaring with distaste at the girl dragging me. For a second, I deluded myself into reading jealousy in her expression. Then I realized it was what I always got from her, unbridled hatred. Lauren saw me with a chick and assumed I was somehow manipulating the girl. Fuck Lauren. The girls I hooked up with wanted me for what I could offer them, a couple hours of fun.

We had to go through the mass of people dancing to get outside, which brought us continually closer to Lauren. With every step, Laurene's eyes got darker and narrower. I couldn't see in the dim light, but I knew that as she got angrier her brown eyes would be invaded with flecks of charcoal.

I pulled my keys from my pocket and let go ofthe girl's hand.

"I'll meet you outside. I need to give these to a friend." She nodded and left.

"You might want to check her ID," Lauren suggested wisely. She stopped dancing, but her partner continued her fondling.

I leaned forward so Lauren could feel me everywhere. I wanted to make her forget the foreign hands roaming her body. A vein in her neck jumped and her jaw clenched. "Thanks, hotpants. I'll keep that in mind," I whispered in her ear. "I won't need these tonight. Will you give them to kenz for me?" I slowly pushed the keys into the pocket of her super tight jeans. She gasped in response and looked ready to deck me all at the same time. "Thanks."

When I joined the girl outside, I was primed and ready to go. She looked sexier under the streetlight. We made it down two streets to 19th before we started groping like teenagers again. The blood in my head was quickly draining and pounding through my hands, my clit; even my mouth tasted metallic. Maybe that was from her teeth. She smelled like girl. I love the smell of girl. Slightly perfumed, like an afterthought and the way skin tastes. I wanted to fuck her right there.

It was another two streets before I stopped at the window of a store. Done with waiting, I pushed her back against it, yanked her skirt up around her waist, and pushed her panties aside. Her mouth was in the open collar of my shirt sucking, biting, so I'd remember in the morning. Each wet connection to my skin made my clit twitch with need. When I buried two fingers in her pussy, she bit down hard. My thumb found her distended clit and started the smooth beat of pressure and release making her slump forward against my chest. With my other hand, I tilted her chin up and took her mouth. I like to kiss when I fuck. Hopefully, we'd get to finish before someone found us. One of her legs wrapped around my thigh, opening her wider. I slid a third finger in.

"Fuck. Yeah, like that." She encouraged me so I went deeper. "More." And deeper. I ground my thumb into her clit, guided by the forward jerk of her hips. The skirt was almost up to her tits and she'd gotten my shirt unbuttoned somehow. With every thrust into her cunt, my hand got wetter. The moisture spread down my arm slowly, the strands of wetness stretching between my naked stomach and her thighs.

With a final grind, her body electrified and shuddered before collapsing with a whispered, "Fuck."

Carefully, I withdrew my fingers, flexing my hand..

"How close are we to your place?" I closed my shirt with trembling fingers. She pulled her skirt down and straightened her top.

"Close." She smiled and started strutting down the street again, forcing me to stare at her scantily clad ass.

I stayed a step behind to admire the view.

Before dawn, I slid from the bed, leaving the sleeping woman without looking back. On the way to the door, I picked up the remnants of my clothing. Everything was sore. My nipples hurt, my thighs, even my tongue, and I wasn't sure how that was possible. I remembered drinking a lot after we fucked and then I remembered fucking some more until the alcohol wore off. I didn't remember sleeping.

I let myself out onto the street. My phone rang.

"'Hey."

"Bobo." It was Kenzi.

"I'm so glad you called. You woke me up in time to get out without morning awkwardness."

"Please tell me you're still here." I was guessing Lauren still had my car and was home in her warm little bed. If Kenzi was still downtown, I would at least have a buddy to catch a ride with.

"You know it. I'm on, umm, Nineteenth and P." "I'm Seventeenth and N. Meet me at Starbucks?" "Yeah, I figured. Do you have your car?"

"I gave the keys to Lauren." Something I would never do again. She probably crashed it just to spite me. I had no idea what I was thinking. "Damn, we're kind of fucked, huh?" "Yeah, I guess we'll figure it out. Maybe we should call Dy." "Maybe. I'll seeyou there, 'kay?"

"Yeah."

Five blocks later, I stood in front of the coffee shop.

"Morning, sunshine," he said all excited and sarcastic. "Darlin'." "Sweetness, what did you do last night? You smell like lesbian sex and gin." Kenzi backed away like I offended him. "Whatever you did to smell like boy sex, but more." I held the door for him. "Uh-huh." she grinned at me just a little too knowingly. We got coffee and went out to the little yard on the side of the building. It was shielded from the sidewalk by a high fence and a couple overly huge trees. There was a chick in the corner smoking a slim cigar and drinking coffee. Lauren.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ," Kenz said. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Drinking coffee." Rather than sounding sarcastic, Lauren made the words sound sexy and aloof, like some exotic drink I'd never try and would always want to.

"Lo, honey, tell me you went home with that beautiful thing last night," Kenzi probed.

"Maybe." Ambiguous. Thanks for that, Lauren. "You did not," Kenzi said breathily as he sat down. "I did." She merely raised an eyebrow at Kenzi's incredulous expression.

"I always took you for the type to stick around for breakfast." I yanked out the chair holding Lauren's feet and collapsed into it. "Careful. You don't want to pick up my womanizing habits." If I said it before her, it was better for everyone.

"Not everyone fucks the women they go home with."

"Actually, they do," I responded after a microsecond of contemplation.

"Come on, Lo," Kenz crooned, "details."

Lauren looked her dead in the eye. "I told her I wasn't going to sleep with her. We spent the night drinking wine and discussing philosophy."

"Bullshit," I said immediately.

"Fine." She smiled at me coldly. "It wasn't philosophy, but we did stay up all night talking."

"Fucking," Kenzi whispered to me. "Fucking," I whispered back. "I suppose whatever you did for the last six hours allows you to criticize my behavior?" She made it sound like she was asking both of us. She wasn't. Just me.

"Don't act so high and mighty, princess."

"Sweetheart," she said like the bitch she was, "how does your tongue feel?"

What the hell did that mean? It was especially weird because it hurt like a bitch.

"Oh. My. God." Kenzi jumped out of his chair. She grabbed my head and turned it so I was looking directly at her.

"What the fuck?" I tried to push him away. Lauren was laughing her ass off. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Come with me." Kenzi dragged me back inside the coffee shop. She opened the door of the bathroom and shoved me inside.

"Seriously, what the fuck?"

"That." She squared my shoulders in front of the mirror. And then I remembered.

"I got my tongue pierced." I told her reflection in the mirror. Apparently, I will do just about anything to impress a girl. That was a whole new side of myself I wasn't aware of. Not a pleasant realization.

"And you had no idea." She was absolutely gleeful.

I leaned in close to the scarred mirror to inspect it.. The piercing was red and a little crusty. Gross.

"I'm never drinking again."

"Of course not, sweetness." Kenzi patted my back reassuringly, then steered me out of the bathroom and back to our table. Lauren was still sitting there snickering.

"You guys ready to go?" I allowed my frustration with myself to bleed into my tone. They nodded. "Where's my car?"

"The street." Lauren nodded in the general direction, which made her hair flutter provocatively around her face. We definitely needed to leave.

Bed was good. That was my only thought as I fell into mine. I didn't take off my jeans or shower. I just crashed. My wonderful sleep was interrupted throughout the morning by my phone vibrating. The noise became increasingly insistent until I shut it off. My grandfather was downstairs making the normal morning kitchen noises. There were voices too. I blocked it all out in favor of sleep. I needed to get my own apartment.

I was asleep again when my door flung open, and before I could open my eyes, a body landed on me, followed by one, two more. Dyson, Tamsin, and Hale, the bastards. It was Saturday morning. How could I forget? My grandfather liked to make breakfast, and he liked to make enough to feed a small army. So every Saturday morning, about twenty of our closest friends descended on the blue house on the corner.

"I hate all of you," I told them without opening my eyes. "And your mothers, and your future children, and the mothers of your future children. And I hope they all die painful deaths." They responded to my tirade by bouncing up and down on me like six-year-olds.

"Come on, Bo." Hale. "Yeah, Bobo." Dyson. "Miss Isabeau." Tamsin. I hated my name. "None of you guys will live to see twenty-two." I curled up in a ball. "And don't call me that." "The way I see it is this," Dyson put it down for me. "Your mother is making breakfast. You need to wake up and shower."

"Definitely shower," confirmed Tamsin. "So you can do all of that on your own," Dyson went on. "Or we can help you out," Hale finished. "If you guys don't get the hell out, I will kill you." I opened one eye. "Slowly." "Sounds like she needs help." I wasn't sure how Dyson drew that conclusion. "Don't even think—" But they were already going. The three of them wrapped me in my sheet, despite my kicking and yelling and empty threats, and carried me into the bathroom. Unceremoniously, I was dropped into the tub. It didn't feel good.

"Get her shoes off, Hale," Dyson directed. I didn't even know I was still wearing my shoes. Hale yanked them off my feet and tossed them over his shoulder while Tamsin and Dyson held me down. I began screaming creative obscenities at them. They turned on the cold water full blast and ran out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind them. By the time I freed myself from the cold, wet sheet, it was pointless to chase them.

I made future plans to make their lives hell as I turned the water to hot and stripped off my soaked clothes. I'd start with stealing Dyson's stash and his little pot plant called "Peggy Sue." For a moment, I considered letting Hale's dog out of his backyard. No, that was too mean. The dog wasn't that smart. It would be better to take gay porn and poorly hide it in Hale's room where the housekeeper could find it. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. For Tamsin, I would siphon the gas out of her car while she was at work. By the time I went downstairs, I was almost calm.

The kitchen table was crowded with plates of hot food and twenty- year-olds. As I rounded the corner into the kitchen, Hale and Tamsin both looked me straight in the eye. They quickly turned the opposite direction when I put my finger to my lips. Both were probably hoping I would punch Dyson instead of them. I did. Right in the kidney.

"Ohh, you bitch," he yelled at my feet. They were all he could see from his bent over position.

"Language, Dyson." My grandfather didn't even turn from the stove to admonish him.

"Sorry,sir." He straightened up with what I imagined to be a little tear in one eye.

"You had it coming, asshole," I whispered.

"I know." He at least tried to smother the grin. "But, damn, bro. In the kidney?"

"Both of you. Language." This time he did turn around.

"Sorry," we said simultaneously while giving each other the how- the-hell-did-he-hear-us look.

"Breakfast is going to get cold. Sit down." He set another platter on the table. Pancakes.

"I'm sorry." Tamsin leaned over and started whimpering. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

I didn't even look at her. "You'll get yours."

"Come on. Are you really mad? We were just playing." She actually looked sincere.

"Don't worry, Tamsin." I looked up at Lauren to see what she could possibly contribute to my empty threats. "She's all talk."

"Anyway," my grandfather pointedly cut in. "How was your semester, Lauren?"

"I'm not sure. Grades aren't in yet." She grinned to accentuate what I could only interpret as an attempt to be charming.

"I'm sure you did just fine, honey," Trick reassured her from where he was still screwing around in the kitchen.

" Sit down," I said. "We like it better when you eat with us."

He shot me a look then leaned over me to set a pitcher of juice on the table.

"Honey, you needto change your clothes' style."

"I think I can handle it."

"Isabeau." "Fitzpatrick." "Isabeau."

"Sit down and eat." This time everyone at the table loudly agreed with me.

It was rather hard to follow any sort of conversation in my house on Saturday mornings. My grandfather had started the tradition of weekend breakfasts when I was really little, and during the summer when everyone was home from college, he still insisted on them. I didn't even invite people anymore. They just showed up.

"Did everyone see the, umm, what shall we call it, kenz? The fruits of Bo's labor last night." I hated Lauren. She was such a bitch.

"Huh?" Dyson brilliantly looked up from his pancakes and sausage. "What's that mean?" He looked back and forth between Lauren and me, as did everyone else at the table. Kenzi started laughing.

"Nothing." I shot Lauren an I-hate-you look. "I just, never mind, it's nothing." That got their attention. Good job me.

"None of you noticed her tongue?" Lauren acted totally affronted on my behalf. As if I wanted the goddamn piercing.

"The piercing? I thought she always had that," Tamsin spoke up after they all stared at me.

"No way. You got your tongue pierced?" I could always count on Hale to encourage me.

"Get this." Kenzi stopped giggling long enough to explain my stupidity. "She picked up this chick at the Dahl and..." she had to pause to gulp air and laugh some more. "They go and somehow the girl convinces Bo that she should get a piercing."

"How?" Dyson asked.

"I'm guessing the very short skirt the chick was wearing and a lot of booze."

"Enough. Stop. You're done," I told him. "My grandfather is at the goddamn table. Just a little respect, please."

"Language, Isabeau " was all he said.

"Well, it looks good," Tamsin told me.

"Yeah, it's kind of sexy," Lauren said. Every person at the table stopped staring at me to look at her. A piece of bacon fell out of Tamsin's mouth.

Dyson recovered first. "Did you just say Bo looked"—he swallowed loudly—"sexy?"

"What?" She sipped some orange juice then slowly licked her lip. "I was just making an observation."

My pulse skyrocketed and my hands started shaking.

"So are you guys going camping soon?" My grandfather thankfully changed the subject.

"I hope so." Dyson sounded a little surprised. "I made reservations already. For next, next weekend." He interpreted the blank looks properly and explained further. "Two weeks from now."

"You kids might want to straighten out who is bringing what," Trick suggested. "That is, if you've only got two weeks to plan. If you want to discuss everything in the living room, I'll clean up in here."

That seemed like a good idea, mostly because cleaning the kitchen sucked. So we all gradually moved into the living room. Tamsin and Hale helped him clear the table. I went upstairs to get The Camping List. It was the same list we'd been using since the year we all turned sixteen and could drive ourselves to the campsite. Every year, something new got added or crossed out or changed until it was as close to perfect as possible. I knew it was in my room somewhere.

"So, B." Kenzi followed me upstairs and into my room. She shut the door behind her. "You want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" I started digging around in my closet. "Lauren." "What about her?" The folder with The List was dark red. I was pretty sure I could see it on the top shelf. I grabbed for the corner. "How you're in love with her." "What?" As I yanked the folder, a couple of shoeboxes came with it and poured out half my childhood on my head: photographs, essays, third grade drawings, and letters from my grandma. "What did you say?" I asked again once everything hit the ground. I must have heard her wrong.

"Maybe love is a strong word." She was way too observant. "You think she's hot, gorgeous, sexy. You want to get into her pants. You're having impure thoughts. Does that cover it?" Damn, she could be annoying.

"Kenzi." I stepped out of the pile of papers and detritus so I could walk closer and place my hands on her shoulders and stare into her eyes. "You're out of your mind."

"Are you being cool or are you in that much denial?" She tilted her head to one side like she was actually curious.

"Neither. I hate her. I have hated her since—"

"Second grade. I know." She pushed my hands off her shoulders. "But this..." She walked over to the pile of crap from my closet and started digging through it. After about a minute, she straightened with a photo in her hand. "This girl is easy to hate." She gave me a photo from high school. It was the siblings and me sitting by their pool. There she was, the chubby girl who broke my Gameboy in second grade, the one who buzzed half my head when I was asleep on our sixth grade overnight trip. That bitch who outed me in our freshman English class because I stole her girlfriend. "Now, not so easy."

"She was a vindictive bitch then and, believe me, she hasn't changed." I tossed the picture back onto the floor.

"Bobo." Her tone got my attention more than the use of my name. "That is debatable. Anyway, you've dated tons of girls who were half as attractive and twice as evil."

"It doesn't matter. I don't see her that way." She opened her mouth to protest. "No, we're done."


	3. Noises in the dark

_Here it is! I promised I was gonna be quick! It gets quite dirty in this one, although it will take some more chapters to get to the real action, sorry guys, you'll have to wait :P _

_Thank you very much for your reviews, really appreciated, I'll try and answer them, If you have any question or any thoughts just tell me! I don't bite! _

_C._

Dyson and Lauren's place was fucking huge. They practically had their own wing. It was a whole new, sad level of McMansion. No joke. Their stepdad hated them and it was way mutual, so everyone kept to their sides. I let myself in and walked through the house trying to find them.

"Our father's out of town again." The evil stepfather. Dyson stretched out a hand to the small table next to us. He grabbed his silver cigarette case and matching lighter. The case was lined with perfectly rolled joints. Carefully, he selected one and placed it between his lips.

"Where does he go on all those trips?" He was only home about half the time. None of us knew what he did. The CIA wouldn't have surprised us. Neither would the mob. They both shrugged.

"Who gives a fuck?" Dyson repeatedly flicked the lighter to no avail.

"Give me that." I took the lighter and joint from him and lit it. After taking a slow hit, I held it to his mouth. His bottom lip brushed my thumb and the light scruff on his faced rubbed against my hand. When he was done puffing on the jay, I pulled it away.

"You guys are kind of creepy. You know that?" Lauren broke her silence.

I took another hit and held it in as long as I could. Then I put the joint to Dyson's lips again.

"We're non-sexual soul mates," Dyson informed her. He must have already smoked before I got there. Otherwise, he wouldn't have told her that.

"What the hell does that mean?" She seemed disgusted.

"It means if Dyson were a woman, we would be destined for each other," I said.

"It's true." He tilted his head back to look at me. I could barely see the shine of his eyes through the dark curtain of his hair. He let out a big sigh. "Too bad I don't have like a sister or something."

"Yeah, like a super hot sister." We started giggling. Lauren did not look amused. The joint went out so I lit it again.

"Pretty much any woman as smitten with you as my brother is would do the job." She mustered as much sympathy as possible. "But as soon as you start talking, your looks don't really cut it."

"Did you just say I was hot?" I pulled on the joint again, leaving a thin ash. Aiming for the ashtray on the table, I tapped it off.

"Yeah, sis. I think that was a compliment," Dyson deadpanned. He leaned his head back again so I would let him take another hit. Obligingly, I placed it in his mouth upside down so my fingers were splayed across his chin. He held the smoke in his lungs before exhaling in a long stream of dark, dank vapor. "I'm gonna get some food." He braced a hand on my thigh and pushed up, then sauntered into the house.

"Let me get some of that." Lauren sat up and stretched out her hand.

"No." The joint was almost gone. "Get your own."

"Come on. I don't want a whole one, just a little."

"There's nothing left." I held it up so she could see. "Probably only one more hit."

"So give it to me." She stood and towered over me. Her bikini bottoms were at my eye level.

"No." I sucked on the jay until it was almost to my fingertips. The smoke burned my lungs, but I held it in.

"Shotgun it then." I shook my head. Lauren swung a leg over my lap and planted a knee on either side of me. She knew I'd have to exhale soon. I turned my head away. "Please." When she knew I wasn't giving in, she took my face in her hands and turned it toward hers. I tried to jerk my head away, but she twisted her fingers into my hair and held me still. Our lips were inches apart.

I wanted to ghost it. Hold it till there wasn't anything left to shotgun. But it was the end of the joint and I was about half a second away from coughing. Totally not sexy. Or cool. So I exhaled. I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Fuck you." The smoke poured out as I spoke. I'd already lost. I blew the rest of the thick smoke into her mouth. She inhaled slowly, pressed her lips closed, and held her breath.

"Thank you." She blew the smoke out into my face. It was pungent and distinct, the way only good pot smells.

"You're a bitch." "I know." Her face was still next to mine. "Now go away." I tried to push her off one-handed. The joint was still in my other hand. "No. You're going to kill that"—she pointed at the roach—"and I want more." "No."

"Fuck, Bo, just do it."

I knew what she meant. That didn't mean I had to interpret it that way. I tilted my hips up so they rubbed against her inner thighs.

"I'll do it. Just tell me how you want it, babe." I lifted the joint to my lips and inhaled from it again. This time it did burn my fingers. I tossed the roach into the ashtray.

"You know how I want it." She dropped low and ground against my crotch. Automatically, I pressed into her. Her breasts brushed mine when she took a deep breath. The charm on her necklace rested against the skin exposed by my open shirt. The metal was warm.

I wanted to kiss her. I tried to think of my poor, broken, second grade Gameboy. I tried to think of freshman English class. No luck. I still wanted to kiss her. Before blowing out the smoke, I cupped a hand around her neck and pulled her closer. Our lips just barely brushed together, not exactly kissing, but on the verge. Then I exhaled. She took it in stride, staring straight into my eyes as she drank in the smoke.

My hand fell and Lauren leaned back. She didn't stop staring at me. Calmly, she dropped back onto her chaise lounge and just watched me.

"Pizza's on the way," Dyson announced as he shut the door and walked back over to us. He drew a lazy finger back and forth on the thin chain around his neck. Lauren started doing the same thing. I don't think either realized how often they did that simultaneously.

Their necklaces were really cool, a present from their mom when they were little. She had worn one too. Hers was slightly larger and less elaborate.

"Hey, man. I think your sister wants me," I told Dyson without looking away from Lauren. I wasn't sure what had just happened, and I didn't want to think too hard about it. All I knew was that I was so turned on it was painful. My underwear were wet, and I was sweating in weird places.

"Yep. I'm into assholes. All that charm and sex appeal." Lauren was still staring at me too.

"Great." Dyson wasn't even paying attention. "Does that mean you'll stop fighting?"

"I doubt it," I said.

"Oh, well. Wanna go swimming?" He was already stripping his shirt off.

"Sure. Let me go change into my bikini." I started to walk inside then turned back. "Sorry, hotpants , I didn't even think. You okay with me swimming? I mean, if I'm half naked and all wet it might send you into a frenzy."

"Don't worry. I think I have the gag reflex under control this time." Damn, why did she always have a response?

"Why don't you guys just shut the fuck up and swim with me?" Dyson asked before diving in.

"We gotta tell her".

"Tell me what?" It was nearly three in the morning, but we were still out by the pool. It had finally cooled down to seventy so Lauren and I were wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Dyson, however, was oblivious to the temperature. He was still wearing damp board shorts and an equally damp towel.

"That we need an extra tent for next week," he told me. Hale and I were in charge of most of the camping equipment. He was handling the reservations and getting a keg, as usual. Tamsin and Lauren were in charge of food, and Kenzi was getting the drinks and a truck. Everyone had a job.

"Why do we need another tent?" I asked, all sleepy. "I thought we were doing the usual." Gay and straight tents. Dyson, Hale, and Kenzi had one; Lauren, Tamsin, and I had one. There were many reasons for the sleeping arrangements, but it was mostly about cleanliness. The boys and Kenzi were dirty; we weren't.

"I'm bringing a friend," Lauren said. "A what?" "A friend. I already asked everyone and they said it was cool." "You didn't ask me." "Uh-oh" Dyson stood. "I'm going inside. Let me know when you clean up the blood." He let himself into the house. "Sorry." She didn't look sorry. "But she is only coming here for a little while and I want to see her and I don't want to miss camping. Plus, I want her to meet my friends."

"Why doesn't she just come the week after?" "Why does it matter?" "It doesn't. I was just wondering." I tried to sound cool. I wasn'tneven sure why I was irritated. "Who is she anyway?" "I know her from school. Her name is Evony." The way Lauren slightly smiled when she said the girl's name tipped me off.

"Oh, did Lauren tell you?"

"So why can't you and Evony just share a tent with me and Tamsin?" If she wasn't going to volunteer the information, I'd make her give it up. Mature.

"I don't know. You figure it out." Lauren closed her eyes and leaned her head back like she was bored.

"She snores? Maybe she should have her own tent." "Stop acting like a child." "I'm not acting like a child." I was. "You are. Just tell me why you need a separate tent." She opened her eyes to glare at me. "Come on, tell me."

"Because she's my girlfriend. Happy?"

"Yes." No. "Do you really think our camping trip is the best place for you to get laid?"

"Please spare me the lecture. I really don't think you qualify as an authority on the most appropriate places to hook up." Lauren wasn't even looking at me anymore. Instead, she began to peel the label off the water bottle she was holding.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means you're a fucking whore." Her lips seemed to embrace each word like she was kissing them.

"Fuck you."

"I'd rather not." She made actual eye contact when she said it, then looked back at her water bottle.

"No, really. Where do you get off calling me a whore?" I knew she was just trying to piss me off. She knew it was working.

"I was just making an observation." Lauren flicked some moist paper onto the ground. "You fuck any girl who stands still long enough." She shrugged. "That means you're a fucking whore."

"Babe, that means I'm a fuckin' playa." I stood and braced an arm on either side of her. "I'm a motherfuckin' pimp."

"Please, please, please, Bo," she grabbed my hands and begged. "Get over yourself."

"Oh, fuck you." "Fuck you." Yep, that was a constructive conversation.

"What if he comes home early? With Lauren and Evony upstairs. I can't leave them alone with him." Dyson was right. Christopher maintained a no overnight friends rule. That was why I slept in the guest room and not on Dyson's floor like when we were little.

"That's true."

"Remember last time?" When Christopher literally threw a half- naked, very pretty girl in the front yard. A girl he happened to find in Dyson's bed.

"Yes, I remember." I remembered Dyson calling me because Christopher wouldn't let him give the girl her clothes or a ride. I remembered going to pick up the girl, giving her something to wear, and driving her home. "So call the front gate and ask the security guard to call you if Christopher comes home early."

"Do you think that would work?"

"Why not? We'll drive up before the movie and you can bribe the guy or something."

"Okay, yeah." We both looked at the door when my dad yelled that dinner was ready. As we meandered downstairs, Dyson said, "I always feel like James Bond when I bribe someone." I wasn't sure why he was proud of that. Fuckin' rich kid. Still, I couldn't help but love him.

Packing was hell. There was yelling and cussing and sometimes a good fistfight. Kenzi and I had thought that breaking into the beer at six thirty a.m. was a good idea. It wasn't. "All you had to do was get a truck. What the fuck is this supposed to be?" I threw a hand up at the truck parked on the street that was big enough to carry a small house. "I can't fit shit in there." Maybe I was being a little overdramatic. Only a little.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were going to war. Otherwise, I would have brought the Hummer," she screamed back. "Anyway, I was a little worried your fuckin' ego wouldn't fit in the cab." she cocked her head to one side and considered. "You're right; the Hummer would be a better idea." she snatched the truck key out of my hand.

"Shut up." I grabbed the keys back. "

"Why don't both of you shut the fuck up?" Tamsin yelled at us. She was up by the house making sure the ice chests were all properly sorted.

"Fuck off," Kenzi and I screamed back at her.

"You guys are annoying the shit out of us," Hale returned inTamsin's defense.

"Stop crying, you little princess" Kenzi said. Tamsin's neighbors were probably loving our little display.

Hale and Tamsin looked at each other. Tamsin shook her head. Hale nodded his. Then they both ran straight at us. Kenzi and I started running, but we didn't get far. We ended up with our faces pressed to the window of the truck, which our heads barely even reached. Tamsin trapped my arms behind my back and pulled up until I was on my tiptoes and in serious pain. Hale held Kenzi in the same position.

"Help,"Kenzi cried out in a rather high-pitched voice, not really fighting at all "Rape, molest, assault."

"I thought youd like it lil' mama." Hale pushed her harder against the truck. I started laughing at Kenzi.

"You think that's funny?" Tamsin rewarded me by raising my arms even higher until I whimpered.

"Now say you love each other," Tamsin demanded. "No." I refused to give in. "I give up." The pain on Kenzi's face was replaced with a sneer.

"I love you Bo." "Me too," .

Lauren turned and held out herhand to a chick standing behind her. "This is Evony." She was tall and stunning. She was hot, if you're into pretty eyes and toned arms and classy.

"Hi, Evony," we responded like school kids.

"The little goth is Kenzi." She looked outraged. "Blond hair and green eyes is Tamsin. Dark hair and brown eyes is Bo."

"Thanks for clarifying, hotpants. That's a toughie," I said like I was thankful when I just wanted to knock her out.

Lauren smirked in response. "And finally, the tall, handsome, self-appointed God's gift to women is Hale."

"Lovely to meet you, Evony." I shook her hand. "Sorry to make such a poor impression."

"It's all right. You guys lived up to every one of Lauren's descriptions." She smiled in a way that made it sound funny instead of rude.

"Fabulous." Kenzi pushed off the truck and shook her hand as well. "Let's get this shit packed up now. Hey, Evony, do you want a beer?" Hale Said.

"Or a Bloody Mary?" Kenzi asked. "It's like breakfast. But with vodka."

"You know? A beer sounds great." Lauren shot Evony a look. "I'm still on East Coast time." She shrugged like that explained it.

Lauren drove Dyson's SUV. Dyson and I took the truck. He drove. They were the only people who hadn't been drinking all morning. After the two-hour drive up winding mountain roads, I was pretty sober. We rolled down the windows as soon as the heat tapered off. At home, it was supposed to be pushing one hundred, but up in the mountains, we were loving the high seventies. I thought they would beat us up there since we were towing four Jet Skis and they only had one, but we only got there fifteen minutes behind them. With seven people, it didn't take long to unload everything. Set up was another story.

"So you guys ready?" I asked everyone. We were all relaxing in chairs around the empty fire pit.

"Ready for what?" Evony asked. We all smiled back at her. "The Race," Dyson said. "You guys are kind of into competition aren't you?" she asked. "What gave you that idea?" I smirked.

"The brawl I witnessed," Evony stated unnecessarily. "And 'The Race' sounds a little competitive as well."

"They want to race putting up tents," Lauren told her. "You guys can count me out. I'll be the ref."

"What about the third tent?" Tamsin asked. "We'll need to change the rules."

I looked at Kenz for her approval. She smiled and nodded. "Me and Kenzi will do both the small ones."

"But we get Evony," she added. "Three on three."

Dyson, Tamsin, and Hale had a very intense conversation with their eyes. Their tent was more complicated to put up. We were getting one more player than usual, but also an extra tent. The conversation must have gone well.

"Done," said Dyson. "Stakes in the ground. Tops on. Losers blow up air mattresses."

"You guys are all losers," Lauren informed us. "I'll go place the tents."

"Your girlfriend's a bitch," I said to Evony.

"Bo, I kind of like you." Was that supposed to be nice? "Don't make me hurt you."

We watched in silence as Lauren looked around our massive campsite and chose three promising places. In each one, she placed a bag with a tent. Then she sashayed back to the truck, found the two mallets, and handed one to me and one to Dyson.

Calmly, she looked at her phone and waited. "Ready?" We nodded even though she wasn't looking. "Go."

We jumped up and ran. Chairs hit the ground. Kenzi pushed Hale. I pushed Dyson. And then we were in the clear. I shoved the mallet into my belt at the small of my back.

"Evony, build the poles." Kenzi yanked the tent out of the bag. I gripped the nylon so he could pull. A bag of stakes fell out followed by a bundle of poles, and we tossed them to Evony. Kenzi unrolled the tent in my direction and we unfolded it.

"Where's the door?" I asked her. "Where's the fucking door?"

"Over there." Evony pointed. Kenzi and I each grabbed two corners and half walked, half ran in a circle until she shouted, "Stop."

"Here's the first pole." She nudged a fully assembled pole on the ground with her toe. The second was already half done in her hands.

As we fed the first pole through Kenz slowly chanted, "Careful, careful, fucking careful, dude." Evony assembled the last pole for the rain cover. Then she spread the nylon cover out for easy access.

"Is it in?" she asked.

"Almost," Kenzi told her.

"Done," I shouted a second later. "Hold the center so we can put the poles up."

Evony did as she was told, carefully stepping in the open door of the flat tent and lifting with us.

"Are you in, Kenz?" "Yeah." I bent the pole in my hands until I could slide the pin into it. "Done." "Three minutes," Lauren called out. Behind us, the guys were

feeding their first pole through. They had three times as many poles to work with. We got our second pole in. All three of us started tying the tent to the pole. Three corners done.

"I got the last one and the stakes. You guys get the cover." I finished tying the final corner and Evony threw me the bag of stakes.

"Go, go, go," Kenzi helpfully suggested.

I pounded the last stake in as they secured the cover. We only had the stakes for the cover left.

"You get those, Bo. We'll start the next one," Evony shouted back as she and Kenzi sprinted to the next tent.

Finally, we won.

"Dyson, Tamsin, Hale." Lauren somberly touched each of them on the shoulder. "Have fun with the air mattresses."

For hours, we had to hear about how unfair the competition was.

The first day was uneventful. We spent most of it setting up camp and walking around aimlessly. In the afternoon, Dyson managed to convince Lauren to join in an impromptu game of football down by the lake. We put her and Hale on the same team because they pretty much amounted to one player. Hale was a disgrace. And Lauren didn't give a fuck.

The next morning, I woke up first, as usual. I started the fire and the first pot of coffee. Sleeping while camping isn't fun. It's too cold and uncomfortable so I always went to bed last and woke up first.

The third night we made s'mores. None of us really liked them, but we were camping so we made them anyway. Actually, Tamsin liked them, but she always ended up covered in melted marshmallow. Evony and Lauren went to bed first. Tamsin drank so much we had to carry her into her tent. Kenzi and Hale crashed soon after, together, leaving Dyson and me alone by the fire, I look at him and then to the tent where Kenzi and Hale had gone to, he nodded.

"I think I'm going to bed too." Dyson stood and stretched. "I'm gonna stay out here for a while." "You want me to get you some more beer before I go?" "I think I'm good." Even with the massive amount of food I'd eaten for dinner, I was tipsy. "You want to turn off the lantern for me?"

"Sure." Dyson turned it off and my eyes were temporarily stunned from the darkness. "Hey." He turned back. "What's with you and Lauren?"

"What do you mean?" I fought to stay cool. If Dyson knew I suddenly thought his sister was hot, he would kill me.

"I don't know. You guys are being..." He stopped like he wasn't sure how to describe it. "...nice."

"I don't know. I guess we have a truce," I said all casual. "Cool." He nodded his head. "Well, good night." "Yeah, good night." I watched him unzip his tent and crawl inside. I almost fell asleep sitting by the fire. My jacket was super warm and the fire was putting off a lot of heat even though it was dying down. I felt good.

A noise broke through the night. At first, I thought it might be a bear, but then I heard it again. It was the sound of a tent moving. I looked hard at all of ours. There was no movement. Then I heard giggling. Someone was awake. A girl. No guy laughed like that. Voices started to carry to me, also girls. I couldn't tell what they were saying. I stopped trying to figure it out. It was kind of messed up to listen in on someone else's conversation.

A car drove by, some latecomer looking for their campsite. The headlights washed over our campsite briefly. The voices stopped. I should have gone to bed. I just knew my sleeping bag would be cold and my chair was warm, so I stayed. Lauren and her girlfriend would probably go back to sleep.

The next noise was different. Distinct. Un-fucking-deniable. The wet sucking sound of fingers buried in a cunt. Low moans emanated from the tent, and it definitely started moving, rocking back and forth. I was either in my worst nightmare or a seriously fucking wet dream. Both, because I was getting really turned on and I couldn't believe my misfortune. A wet lapping joined the gentle cacophony. My clit was pounding, I was wet. Demanding. Something had to be done. I pressed my hand against my stomach, I slid my hand in my pants. I was so fucking wet. I dipped down, drew moisture over my engorged tissues, and started slow circles at the base of my clit.

The moaning got louder, interspersed with "baby" and "honey." Damn, I was so almost there. I circled faster, listening to the sound of Lauren's voice. The beginnings of an orgasm curled around my spine, through my stomach, my throbbing clit. My hips jerked of their own accord. The car got close to our campsite again. I froze. Headlights washed over everything, burning me, shining through the girls' tent. For a split second, I could see Lauren's perfect silhouette. She was kneeling with her head hanging forward and strands of her hair covering her face. The flash of light lasted long enough for me to see the slow roll of her hips as she fucked Evony. I jerked my hand away. I was infinitely more aroused and equally disgusted with myself.

My heart raced and my clit pounded with every beat. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to throw up or come. I couldn't listen to them anymore; that much was obvious. I couldn't go in my tent without them hearing the loud rasp of the zipper. My iPod was in one of the cars, so that was out. No walking because I didn't have a flashlight. It seemed my only option was to sit there and listen. How long could they last, really?

Lauren was crying Evony's name now with serious fucking conviction. I couldn't take it. I pulled up my hood and covered my ears.

It didn't work. Evony was moaning now. Lauren was nearly screaming. When she came with a flood of groans that sounded like incantations, I could see her. In my head, she was slumping over, Evony was gathering her in her arms, whispering to her, kissing her cheeks and lips and forehead.

Around me though, it was just dark and cold and I was alone.


	4. Hit, Sorry and Broke

**Hey there! Here you have some answers! Just wanted to thank you all for your support, and let me know what you think! This Lauren has lots of secrets, just saying... xx C.**

Morning was killer. I woke up late to the sound of people moving around, talking to each other, laughing. I despised all of them. It took a seriously flat air mattress to force me out of the tent. Dyson gave me one look as I slumped into a chair in front of the fire and grimaced. Kindly, he poured a cup of coffee and pushed it into my hand.

"You look like shit." "Thanks." He took the chair next to me. If I felt like shit for normal reasons I would have told him then. My reasons were far from normal so I didn't say anything. Lauren and Evony were sitting across from us looking happy. Lauren was all sleep tousled, her eyes looked deeper than usual, and she hadn't brushed her hair. I was still horny.

"You want some breakfast?" Dyson asked.

"No, I'll get it." I didn't want to stare at Lauren anymore. "Hold my coffee." I shoved it at him.

Kenzi was manning the stove and she looked up as I approached. "Eggs will be done soon." She had a concoction of sausage and eggs and cheese in the pan. "Grab a plate."

"I'll get it." Lauren came up behind me. "I'm getting one anyway." "I got it." Damned if I was going to let her be nice to me. "Don't worry about it." She nudged me out of the way and pulled out a stack of plates. "Thanks." I tried to grab one. "You're pushy this morning. Go sit down. I'll bring you some food." Clearly, Lauren was determined to make me feel guilty. "I got it." She was still in the way so I reached around her to take a plate. Bad idea. Instead of moving like I thought she would, she just turned around to face me. "What is wrong with you? I'm just trying to be nice." The length of her body pressed against mine. Her hip pressed between my legs applying just short of lethal pressure. I looked down into her eyes and almost came. Instead, I gulped hard and loud and blinked my eyes until my head felt clearer. It didn't help.

"Sorry. I'm kinda blue ballin' this morning and you're really not helping." My solitary vow to never speak about the night before crumbled. But I felt bad, I needed to apologize, but the only thing I could come out with was to confess.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She wasn't ignorant, just confused how she was contributing to my condition. Also a little irritated.

"It means that last night you and Evony were loud enough to get me going, but I just couldn't finish jacking off after you said her name." I played it all nonchalant like I always jacked off while listening to my friends getting laid. "You killed my mood. But Evony seems satisfied." I took Lauren's hand and pressed it against my crotch. "Maybe you could ease my pain."

Lauren moved so fast I didn't have time to stop her. I didn't even have time to turn my head to absorb the blow. The slap reverberated across our campsite, silencing every other sound. Lauren and I stared at each other hard. Her hand still hung in the air and my cheek stung like a bitch. I could feel all of our friends watching us, but I didn't dare turn away.

Summer continued in the usual vein. Lauren and I conducted a silent war. Most of our skirmishes revolved around pizza toppings. She would order pizzas and accidentally request stuff I hated on each one. There would be one with anchovies, one with ham, another with bell peppers. My attacks were equally subtle, drinking her favorite juice in the fridge, leaving the bathroom counter covered in hair product, taking naps in her bed with my shoes on. The games hadn't changed a whole lot since we were kids. By the middle of June, we hadn't spoken directly to each other in weeks. I only wanted her attention, I know, I was like a kid, but I couldn't help myself around her.

I was almost living at their house. When Christopher would come home, Dyson would stay at my place, but when he was gone, we partied it up. When I let myself in one afternoon, I couldn't find Dyson. Instead, I found Lauren sprawled on the couch watching soap operas in Spanish. A glass of wine dangled from her limp hand. The bottle on the table next to her was empty.

"What is this?"

"A telenovela."

"Can you understand it?" I dropped over the back of the couch so I was upside down.

"Most of it."

"I can't." Sure, we both took four years of Spanish in high school. That didn't mean I remembered it.

"I took Spanish in college too. Not just high school" Lauren told me. I wondered if she could read my mind or something.

"They're talking really fast."

"You're just slow at listening." There wasn't any malice in her voice. It seemed like we were actually having a conversation. Big step.

"So why are you watching a telenovela?" She didn't answer.

"Are you okay? You seem a little out of it." "I'm fine." She drained the remaining wine in her glass and set it on the table. I studied her from my upside down position. Her eyes were a little red and puffy and she was frowning at the TV. She didn't seem stoned, but it was that or crying.

"Are you stoned?" "No." "Then why were you crying?" A self-deprecating smirk grew across those full lips. "I hate how you know me." I waited for an answer. "Evony broke up with me." "What?" I pushed myself upright. "Why? What's wrong with her? She doesn't like sexy, smart chicks?" Lauren and I might have hated each other, but that didn't mean other people could be mean to her. "Thanks."

"You know what? We need a real drink. I'm breaking into Christopher's liquor cabinet. And then, hotpants, you can tell me all the disgusting, invasive, embarrassing details."

Lauren flashed a real smile, only for a second. "I'll have—"

"Scotch. Neat. Give me a little credit." I went downstairs and returned five minutes later with an unopened bottle and two heavy crystal glasses.

"He's going to kill you if you open that," Lauren said.

"I know." I studied the bottle. "Damn, it's like older than me." With that, I opened it. I wasn't a complete idiot. I knew that Christopher was going to be livid and I also knew he would get over it. Most importantly though, I knew I was a bit of a snob. It was the result of only drinking Christopher's liquor growing up. He shouldn't have kept such a nice supply if he didn't want us to consume it.

"I'm blaming that on you."

"Blame it on Evony." I poured the deep gold liquid and handed Lauren hers.

"Fuck Evony."

"Charming, darlin'. You want to tell me what happened?" I settled across from her on the arm of the couch.

"No, I want to get drunk and watch telenovelas." "Good. Constructive." "Don't start. It's your fault anyway." Lauren took a healthy swig. The glare she shot across the glass had just the right amount of authenticity.

"That's a damn good single malt. Please don't chug it." More glaring. "How could Evony dumping your ass be my fault?"

"She thought we were hooking up." Distractedly, she pointed back and forth between us.

I nearly spit a mouthful of booze. "Huh?"

"I wouldn't tell her why I smacked you. Somehow that equated to..." Lauren waved her hand in the air vaguely.

"I'm sorry."

"It's her problem. If she trusted me, it wouldn't have mattered. No, if I trusted her enough to tell her, it wouldn't have mattered. Anyway, it's over."

"I'm sorry …" It took balls for me to say that, so when it came out, my voice was barely a whisper.

"How much of what you said was true?" There was an attempt at her previous nonchalance that just came off harsh and cold.

We both should have had a lot more booze. I tried to answer, but I blushed instead. That was a first.

"I thought you were screwing with me." There was something resigned in her eyes that made my clit shrink and my stomach turn.

"Oh come on, Lauren. You're fucking beautiful." As if hormones could explain my behavior.

"It was dark. You couldn't see shit." Damn, she had a point. Still, I was surprised when she set down her glass and went for the stairs.

"Whoa, hey." I ditched my scotch and rushed to block her way. "Where you going?"

"Somewhere else." "How long are you going to be mad at me?" "It's you, so I'll probably hold the grudge for life," she said like she wasn't kidding. "Fine. I can't change that." I couldn't very well argue with her.

"Do you remember her? Do you remember Nadia?" She looked at me and I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she hadn't that look, she wasn't playing with me anymore, she was hurt.

_Nadia. Poor girl, she disapeared years ago, the night of the prom. I didn't see her that day, but we used to…well, don't judge me, she was hot, I was young, and we were the only lesbians in high school. Well, Lauren too, but she didn't come out until a year after. Why was Lauren talking about her? _

"What about her?" I was shocked, I hadn't heard anyone talking about her for years now.

"Nothing, just leave me alone." I could tell she was hiding something, she was crying and she didn't look at me.

There was nothing I could do, I knew her, she wasn't giving in so I left.

We were having breakfast next morning at mine when Dyson's phone vibrated on the table. He ignored it until it vibrated onto the floor.

"Damn." He picked it up and read the screen. "It's Lauren." His thumbs flew over the screen. "Wants to know where I am." The phone was tossed back on the table. Five minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

"Who the hell is that?" I asked Dyson. "Probably Lauren." He shrugged. "Dunno why." "You get it. I'll get more soda." I was halfway through the kitchen when Dyson screamed my name. Not just called, fucking shouted. "What?" I sprinted back to the front door.

Lauren was standing there clinging to Dyson. Her chin tucked against his shoulder. When Dyson slowly turned to shut the door behind her, I saw her face. The whole left side was swollen and discolored. A nice gash across her cheek oozed blood. It didn't look like she could open her eye.

"Oh my God," I whispered. I was going to throw up. After a deep breath or two, I was able to direct them to the kitchen. The light was best in there. We sat her down at the table.

"Stop staring. It's bad enough," Lauren said. She might have been trying to be funny.

"What happened?" Dyson finally asked.

At first, it didn't look like she was going to answer. Finally, she muttered, "Christopher."

"He fucking hit you!" I shouted. "Be quiet. Your parents are probably sleeping," Lauren said.

"He hit you." Dyson found his voice finally. "I can't believe he hit you. I mean he's been bad before, but never, never..." He wasn't even talking to us. The only connection he seemed to have to the room was the hand he was clutching Lauren's with.

"Well, believe it," Lauren said. She was the only calm one.

"Why? When? What the fuck?" I struggled to keep from screaming. I still couldn't look at her. Instead, I gripped the sink with a hand that hurt like a bitch and stared into the darkness outside the window. All I could see was my own reflection.

"I told him I was applying to grad school. He hit me. That's it."

"Come on, there's got to be more," I said, turning to make eye contact with her. It hurt to see.

"Really, that's it. I wish there was more. Well maybe he found out about the scotch." Lauren shook her head then immediately stopped as if she might puke. She probably had a concussion.

"You need to go to the hospital." I forced myself to sit at the table next to her, her needs suddenly winning out over mine.

"No, I'm fine."

"Really, babe, I think you do." I placed two fingers on the right side of her face and made her turn toward me. "You might have a concussion and your eye looks pretty bad."

Dyson's head snapped up at my suggestion. "She's right."

"No, guys. I don't want to." She was adamant. "I just need to ice it and sleep."

I went to find Trick, he always have a solution for this kind of _shituations._

"Hi, Little one" he greeted Lauren. "Hey." I wanted to kill Christopher for making Lauen sound like that. "Let me take a look." Slowly, Trick pulled the ice away. The towel had blood on it. Dyson and I stared dumbfounded as Trick did a little inspection. It didn't take longer than a couple minutes. I'd never felt so useless.

"Is she going to be okay?" Dyson sounded like an old man, all raspy.

"Yes, of course. But we do need to go to the hospital." He pushed Lauren's hair back and kissed her forehead. "I want to find out if your head's okay and I think you might need your cheek stitched up."

"Okay. Fine," Lauren conceded. It's good to know when to give up.

"Good." He flashed a smile. "I'm going to get dressed. You two"—she pointed at Dyson and me—"we need another ice pack and an extra towel." We nodded, happy to be told what to do.

"My car's in the driveway," Lauren announced after my mom left the kitchen. "I should move it."

"Nope, I got it." Dyson held out his hand for the keys. She handed them over somewhat reluctantly. "Be right back."

I fixed the ice pack my mom requested and set it on the table. "You want to go get in the car?" I asked.

"Sure. Can I drive it off a cliff?" "Nope." "Oh, well." Lauren braced a hand on the table and pushed up. "I got you." I slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close even though she could walk just fine. "Want me to carry you?" I tried for a charming smile.

"I'm all right, thanks." She set her head on my shoulder and let me walk her out to the garage. "You feel good."

We were at the hospital, Dyson went to grab a coffee, and I was sitting on the floor next to Lauren.

" What you said about Nadia…" I knew it wasn't just the right time, but I needed to know.

"I don't want to talk about it" That hurt look again.

" They never knew what happened to her, I liked her" I said trying to get more information.

"I know you liked her, same old, you like every pair of boobs." " That's not like that!" I protested, but deep down I agreed.

"I saw you that day on the parking lot, making out in your car." She said dryly.

" Yeah, so…" "Nothing, it's just..nothing." But there was something, there was definetely something.

"I know you were closed, I know it hurts Lauren, you always sitted together in all our lessons, hell even you were planning on going to the prom together!" Then it hit me, it couldn't be, no, that wasn't just happening. Lauren went to collegue and didn't come back for a year after that, and then she came out, and told everyone that she had been in love with a woman for a long time, but everyone supossed she was from collegue. Nadia. Fuck.

She stood up and went out of the room lighting up a cigarrette.

Dyson came back frowning " Since when does she smoke?"

"Prom" That was the only word that left my mouth. He frown even more. Luckily, the doctor call Lauren's name and Dyson went out to find her.

A week passed and we only talk when necessary, I wanted to ask, to apologize, to tell her I didn't know, but I couldn't, I'd never been in that kind of situation, I din't even know how to act in funerals, for god's sake I wasn't made for emotional things. And Dyson would definetely kill me.

"Dy, we need to talk." Lauren stomped into the kitchen. They had been at my house for two weeks. They went home to sleep and get stuff once so Christopher couldn't kick them out.

"What's up, sis?" He asked through a mouthful of macaroni and cheese. We were at the table with one of those party-sized ones between us. We were only a third of the way through and already feeling sick.

"This." She tossed a thick file onto the table. "What's this?" He pointed at it with his fork. "How much do you think Mom left us?" Lauren sat at the table and grimaced at our choice of food. Her face looked much better and she could fully open her eye now, which really added to her ability to glare. Neither of us had mentioned me holding her while she fell asleep, and I sure as hell wasn't planning on it.

"How much what?" "Money." "I dunno. Couple million." I loved how nonchalant he was about that. "Wrong." Lauren was on some sort of mission. "What? Please don't tell me we put up with that douche bag for ten years for a lousy couple hundred thousand." Dyson was really distressed. "How am I supposed to buy a house in Hawaii, smoke pot, and live off the interest if it's only half a million? I can't even buy a house for that."

"Wow, great plan for the future," I interjected.

"It may be simple, but it will make me happy." He shouldn't have smoked so much pot that morning. Or in the last six years.

"I think it's time to cut back on the weed," I said. "I agree, but could we focus?" Lauren said. "Okay, how much money?" he asked.

"She left a total of almost forty million." Dyson dropped his fork into the mac and cheese. "We each get about twelve million. The remainder goes to Christopher."

"The money's gone." Lauren delivered her information like an executioner, with precision and entirely lacking remorse.

"What do you mean the money's gone?" I sat back at the table. It looked like Dyson was still in shock. His fork was still in the mac and cheese.

"I mean the accounts have all been closed and there's no trace of the money."

"But what does that mean?" Yes, I was dense.

"My best guess would be that Christopher somehow bribed the lawyer in charge of the trust to close it out and transfer the money."

"How did you figure this shit out?" Dyson found his voice.

"When he hit me, I knew there had to be a reason, but I couldn't figure anything out. And then I thought maybe he was stressed or something. So I hired a lawyer and a private detective. The kind who look at paper trails. I wanted them to figure out what he does for a living. Because we still don't know and that's weird."

"Wait. He hit you so you decided to figure out what his job is?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?" "That doesn't make sense." Lauren looked annoyed. "Sure it does. I had to figure out why he didn't want me to apply to grad school." "I don't get it," I said. "Don't worry about it. Just keep up for a sec, 'kay?" I was confused. But with Lauren, I was usually confused.

"So where's our fuckin' money?" Dyson was starting to comprehend what she was saying.

"I don't know. The people I hired couldn't find it." "Isn't that totally illegal?" I was there to ask the obvious questions. "Of course." Lauren looked at me like I was stupid. "Get this. The lawyer is gone. My private detective couldn't find him." "So call the cops," I said. "What good would it do?" Lauren asked. "Um, dude did something illegal. So you call the cops on his ass."

It seemed like a logical move to me. "They can't bring the money back." I was missing something here. Or Lauren was hiding something. "Uh, I think Bo's right. We need to call the cops," Dyson said. "And what? They'll find what I found. The money is gone. So is Christopher. So is the lawyer. They'll just dig into the paper trail." Lauren stared hard at Dyson. He shrugged.

"Good call." Dyson. "Yeah." Lauren. "Cops suck." Me. Something had just happened. That look. I decided to roll with it.

For now. "So what are you going to do?" I asked. "Not a damn clue. Mooch until he kicks us out." "You guys are fucked." They both glared. "Okay, no, maybe not." I figured it couldn't hurt to throw out some dumb ideas. "Your credit cards are paid by his account, right?" They nodded.

"So what?" Dyson didn't follow.

"So buy your house in Hawaii, he'll have to pay it off. Buy cars in your names and sell them off later. Run your credit cards up to the limit until he stops paying them off. He'll probably catch on pretty quick, but until he does buy everything you can."

"It's better than nothing." Lauren was resigned. "I wonder if we can use our credit cards for mutual funds."

"Fuck, Lauren. You're so boring." It was actually a good idea. "Anyway, you can probably get cash advances."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're a genius." "Why? You guys would have thought about cash advances." "No, the whole buy everything thing," Lauren said. "You guys are taking this really well." They shrugged. Maybe they were in shock. "When Christopher gets back into town again you should probably confront him." I knew they weren't going to like that idea. "I guess," Dyson told his mac and cheese. "If he gets back in town, that is. The dude is probably long gone."

If I stole a bunch of money, I would take the fuck off. "We'll deal with that when we need to." Lauren was all business.

"In the meantime, let's spend some money." She grinned. "So are you guys going to throw me a kick ass party for my birthday?"

"Fuck, yeah." Dyson and I slapped our palms together. Whatever had just happened was weird. But Dyson would fill me in later. I was sure of it.


	5. Holes

**Hi! I'm here again, can't complain about my speed, can you? I have to say this chapters brings more questions than answers but it starts the main plot. Thanks you for all your reviews, they're very appreciated. Hope you like it, enjoy! xx C.**

That was a huge party, the house was full of people in their nicest suits, drinks all over the place, this must cost a fortune, well I'm sure it did cost a fortune. I giggled and imagined Christopher's face.

"You seen Lauren yet?" Dyson asked. "No, why?"

"I almost locked her in her room when I saw the dress she was going to wear."

"Slutty?" A girl could dream. "Skimpy? Sexy?"

"All of the above. Well, maybe not slutty." Dyson appeared mildly concerned. "I hate when people check her out. She is my sister, you know?"

"I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself." "So I can't be protective?" "Yeah, I guess," I said. me up the wall, probably because I

The makeshift dance floor took up most of the space not occupied by the pool. "I think I'm going to join the masses," Dyson said. "Have fun." We saluted each other with our glasses and he let himself inside. It was rather boring on the balcony alone so I trailed after him. Kenzi found me on the stairs and immediately dragged me outside to dance with her.

"You look beautiful,awesome,breathtaking BoBo!." She had to shout to be heard over the music.

"So do you!" I glanced down at the black dress. Kenzi was wearing a goth dress and it showed all her 'chartings'.

I didn't mind dancing with Kenzi even though I hated dancing with girls. It was too distracting with chicks. After five minutes tops, I would want to fuck the girl, and that lacked certain decorum.

"Have you checked out Lauren?"

"No. Is she totally smokin'?" Lauren had to be.

"Even you won't be able to resist her." She grinned like she knew too much. I cupped her elbow and led her into the house.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked once we were out of the fray. "I'm not." "Oh, yes, you are." "Very sensitive tonight, Bobo" she said.

"Kenzi!" I had to focus. "What are you thinking in that twisted mind of yours?"

"You need to get laid." That smile was back. Instead of explaining further, she sauntered off.

"Down here." I led the girl down a hallway on 'the forbidden side of the house'.

"I thought we couldn't go down here." She didn't seem too concerned. What was her name? Kristy? Katie? Something like that.

"Don't worry about it." I opened the door to Christopher's office. It fit him perfectly. It was dark wood and leather and totally lacking imagination, a designer's idea of masculinity that fell short. The desk was perpendicular to expansive windows, and behind it stood the now virtually empty liquor cabinet. Surprise, surprise, there were no bookcases. Christopher wasn't the type to read.

I tossed my jacket in the direction of the desk. She started kissing me. All tongue. No lips. Not great. So I backed her up until we landed on a previously unused and perpetually uncomfortable couch. I already had her dress up around her waist and her almost sexy panties hanging off one ankle. The leather of the couch creaked as I slid to the floor. My ears were filled with the deafening rustle of her skirt as it was dropped over my head. It allowed me to forget the unlocked door and the hardwood beneath my knees because there was only that sound and the feel of soft thighs encasing my head, the smell of teasing girl, and smooth anticipation.

With the first touch of my tongue, she shifted forward. Her hand settled on my head urging me further with light pressure. I circled, teased, brought her to the edge and away again without thought. This was what I did and I did it well. In my cocoon of fabric, I couldn't hear her so I was guided by the twitch of her muscles as she neared release. Juice dripped down my chin slowly, exquisitely.

Suddenly, I was yanked back and to my feet. The rush was gone, replaced by a second of fear, then anger. A boy, or maybe a man, stood before me. The jacket he was wearing was slightly loose on his frame, like it was made for someone else. His tie was terrible. It was tied too short making the knot fat and exposing the lower buttons of his shirt. His breathing was laborious to match mine, but without the benefits.

With the back of my hand, I wiped off my face. My lips and chin were drying already. Experimentally, I opened my mouth, moved my jaw a bit. He watched this display with revulsion.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked.

"You want me to give you some pointers?" My manufactured confusion was lost on him.

"Baby, leave her alone," the girl on the couch protested. Her dress was pushed back down, but one of her heels, a small purse, and her used underwear were still scattered across the floor.

"Don't fuckin' talk to me." The boy didn't even look at her. "I asked you a question, bitch." He punctuated this with a shot to my shoulder.

I stepped back to absorb the blow and remained silent. I didn't have to answer to this punk.

"What? You can fuck my girlfriend but you can't talk?" Uh-oh.

"I didn't hear her complaining." It was the truth. I wasn't responsible for their issues.

"You assaulted her." His shouting sounded crazy in comparison to my even tone.

"Don't give me that shit. I didn't assault anyone." There was serious effort involved in ignoring his bait. I'd still throw down though if that was what he was looking for.

"She's not a lesbian." He didn't need to add the "like you are." "That's not really for me to judge." "I said she's not a fuckin' dyke." He stepped up so our chests were almost, but not quite touching. As if proximity would change my opinion of his girlfriend.

"Back up, kiddo, or I'm gonnapunch your teeth out." God, I loved that line. To facilitate him, I planted my hands on his chest and pushed back. The desk stopped him from falling.

The door next to us opened and I made a mistake. Instead of watching the guy in front of me, I stared at the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. There was a splash of deep blue over pale skin and then there was a fist connecting with my stomach.

I indulged myself with enough time to fill my lungs before I punched the fucker back. In an instant, Tamsin was hauling him backward and Lauren was in front of me. She was pretending to stop me, but she didn't have to try hard.

"Hey, stop it," Tamsin said. "Everybody cool down, all right?" "Yeah, fine." I wasn't even that heated up. Just annoyed. "Whatever. Let me go." The boyfriend shrugged Tamsin off. "All right. I think it's time for you to go," Lauren told the guy. She kept a cursory hand on my shoulder as she turned to look at him. "That bitch attacked my girlfriend," he protested loudly. "No, she didn't, baby," the girl finally spoke up. "Listen to your girlfriend," I advised him a little unnecessarily.

He moved too fast for anyone to stop him. He tackled me and we slammed into the wall. Actually, I slammed into the wall. Behind me, I felt the drywall give way. The girlfriend screamed. Tamsin picked the kid up unceremoniously and dragged him out of the office. The girlfriend watched them go looking all distraught and shit.

"Fuck, Bo! Are you okay?" Lauren rushed over and pulled me up.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." But she wasn't even looking at me, just staring at the wall. It was going to be a bitch to fix that. I turned to check out the hole. It was six inches wide at least, but instead of the dark hole with wood beams that I was expecting, I saw the glint of gold.

"Get her out of here, Lauren." I stepped in front of the hole so the girl couldn't see. "Yeah, okay." Lauren's face was a mixture of confusion and slow comprehension. The girl looked even more baffled as Lauren led her out of the office and hopefully out of the house. I locked the door behind them and started pacing, looking everywhere except that hole. There was no way. I just imagined it. When there was a subtle knock at the door, I jumped.

"Who, uh..." What followed who? "Who is it?" I asked. "It's me." She said. "Are you alone?" "Yeah, of course." I could feel her glaring though the heavy wood. It took me a minute to unlock the door and open it. The second

Lauren was in, I locked it again. We stared at each other, both waiting for the other to look at the wall.

"Are you okay?" She cautiously turned me around and brushed off my shirt. Anything for a distraction.

"My shoulder is kind of sore."

"Take off your dress." Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked to the windows and pulled the curtains closed. Without the bright lights set up outside, the room was nearly dark. Only a small lamp on the desk afforded any light. Clumsily, I started taking it off. Meticulously, Lauren pulled it off my shoulders and started examining my back.

"I'm sure it's fine,Lauren."

"You're going to bruise." Her fingertips traced over my skin. I could feel goose bumps raise on my back and arms. "Why did you let him hit you?"

"I didn't expect the tackle."

She pulled my dress back into place. "Maybe, but you should have expected the first hit. The one we walked in on."

"What were you doing here anyway?"

"We were getting more alcohol." With a twitch of her wrist, she pointed at the liquor cabinet. "Why did you let him hit you?" She was relentless.

"I didn't let him.". Lauren wasn't looking at my face anymore. Her gaze was lower. Much lower. "I just got...distracted."

"Oh," was all she said.

We were so close, yet we were so far. Our noses almost touching, she had her hand on my knee. Her eyes were dark, but she still had that look, that sadness. I could tell she wanted that kiss, hell I didn't want anything more than that, I wanted to confort her, but it didn't feel right.

"I'm..sorry, I didn't know" I needed to talk to her, to tell her it meant nothing, that I didnt know she and Nadia were together back then, and things would have been different. But god knows I'm not that good with words.

"What didn't you know?" Hell, sometimes I really doubt she goes to Yale. Or maybe she was just teasing…

"Nadia" Her hand left my knee, she glared to the floor. " The thing is… I would have forgiven her, if only she was still here, I could heal, but you…it hurt it was you."

"Forgive me…" Lauren was about to cry, she nod, she tried a smile. " I'll try." And that's all I needed. "Why?" I asked, Lauren frowned " Why what?" " Why it hurt it was me?" Lauren shook her head. " It doesn't matter."

That was the first time I saw the real Lauren, she was sincere, but it only took seconds and she was back at her usual state.

"Well, we need to figure out about that." She looked at the hole.

"Should we?" I waited for her to say it. "Look at the wall?" "Yeah. There's no way." "Right, yeah. It's probably some electrical unit or something."

Lauren could always be counted on for logic. "Or something. Yeah." My stunning intellect shone through. We slowly turned and looked. It was so not an electrical unit. I pulled away some of the drywall. She reached in and, with a loud clunk, extracted a gold bar.

Dyson was sprawled in an armchair. Lauren and I were on the couch. We all had big mugs of coffee to compensate for the fact that it was six in the morning and we hadn't slept.

"Did you guys have a good time?" Dyson pulled his necklace out of his shirt and slid it back and forth on the chain.

"Uh huh." I blinked through gritty eyes. Sleep wasn't in my near future.

"Yeah."

"You both seem kind of out of it." He was way too observant. Lauren shot me a look and I nodded toward the stairs. We couldn't talk there. At least five other people were asleep in the rooms surrounding us. "Come here, Dyson. We want to show you something." I stood and started for the stairs. It didn't take the twins long to follow me. "What's up? Where are you taking me?" "Just wait," Lauren said. At the door of Christopher's office, she handed me the key. Where she'd been keeping it in that dress, I'd never know.

"Guys, this is a little weird. Is this about the fight last night?" He slouched against the doorframe while I unlocked and pushed open the door. We filed in and Lauren locked the door again.

"Whoa. Hole in the wall," Dyson remarked casually. "Guess we'll have to patch—" He walked closer, examined it, then turned back to us. "You're fucking with me."

"I found your money." It was supposed to be funny. It wasn't, just weak.

"We wanted to tell you last night, but we thought it was best to keep it on the down low," Lauren offered in explanation.

Dyson slumped to the couch. "How much is in there?" "We don't know." Lauren perched on the arm of the couch next to

him. "What are we going to do?" Dyson knew we didn't have any answers. "No idea." I was just along for the ride. "Who else knows?" He was straight up shocked, but at least he

was thinking. "The girl I was with might." "Kristin," Lauren supplied. At least someone caught her name. "Let me guess." Dyson looked at me half proud and half annoyed.

"Her boyfriend isn't too happy." "She didn't tell me she had a boyfriend." That sounded pathetic. "Any chance she'll tell him and he'll want to teach us an expensive

lesson?" He really tried to not sound like an asshole. "I think you're giving the girls Bo hooks up with way too much credit," She said. "Fuck, Dyson." I ignored her. "I don't think she even saw, but I don't know, okay? How about being happy I found your money?" They just glared. "Right. What's the plan?"

They made some meaningful eye contact with each other. "How do you feel about Mexico?" I wasn't sure if Dyson was kidding.

"Let's see how much is in there," I said. "Make sure it's worth it."

They seemed to think that was a good idea. Dyson went to get a couple hammers from the garage. Then we started to pull the drywall down. Reese said it made her hands hurt. I didn't see how that was possible. All you had to do was put the hammer in the wall and pull. It was messy as hell.

"There better be a lot in there. 'Cause I am so not cleaning this up." I wasn't too worried. We'd already removed quite a few feet from the wall and more gold was still visible.

"We're doing all the work. If it needs to be put back, Princess Lauren can do it."

She looked up at the sound of her name. The midnight blue dress she was wearing was pristine. Dyson and I were head to toe white powder.

"Maybe you should have changed clothes," she said. "Fuck you." Maybe I was a little cranky. "Okay, I think we can start pulling the bars out," Dyson said to shut us up. "All right." I set my hammer down. Dyson started handing me bars one at a time so I could stack them on the desk. "These are fuckin' heavy."

"Don't you watch movies? Of course they're fuckin' heavy." Lauren picked one up off the desk. "Oh my God. How much do they weigh?"

"Why don't you do some research, princess?" I leaned over and turned the computer in front of her on.

After all of the bars were out of the wall, Dyson and I started counting them. Lauren was super helpful. She kept updating us while we counted.

"What's a troy ounce? How do you convert that to pounds? I think this website has today's gold prices. Why is it listed for New York and London? I don't see how the price in Singapore is going to help me."

"Lauren, would you please just shut up?" I asked after I lost count at twenty again.

"Dy, she's being mean."

"Lauren, I love you," He said. "But if you don't shut up I might kill you."

"Fine."

Dyson and I each counted in absolute silence. "You done?" I asked after my second count.

"Yeah, I counted three times." Dyson said. "You?" "Got the same both times." "So how many?" Lauren asked. We told her. "How much is it worth?" Dyson asked.

Lauren typed, deleted, and typed again, shaking her head. With a low whistle, she leaned back. "Thirty-four million."

_Holy Shit!_


	6. What happens in Vegas

**Hi! I'm here again! I bring you some 'action'. All I have to say is I'm sorry for this guys, I'll make it up soon, promise! Hope you enjoy this :) C.**

"What else do we need?" The front hall of their place was piled with duffle bags of clothes, pillows, blankets, a small bag with Dyson's handguns, grocery bags of junk food, and water. Off to the side there was a neat pyramid of gold bars.

"Kenzi, we need Kenzi." I said sadly, knowing we had already talked about that.

"You know she can't come, we don't wanna put her in danger, do we?" Dyson smiled at me and gave me a little hug.

I couldn't believe I was leaving her behind, she was like my sister, and even though we didn't share a father like the siblings, we were even closer. It wasn't my money, it was none of my business, but they were my family too. So I writte a note to Kenzi the night before we left, I didn't explain the whole truth, just told her to take care of Trick and the rest of the gang.

Lauren was looking at me me. She ran her hands through her hair and pulled it up off her skin. Beads of sweat stood out on her neck.

"You look good, Lauren." She let go of her hair.

"Are you sure we need to take two cars?" She pretended not to hear my comment.

"I don't think either car will hold that much weight." I thought she went to Yale. Didn't they teach common sense there? "We don't want them riding suspiciously low."

"I just think we should try it."

"It won't work," I said. "Do you want your precious Mercedes scraping the pavement?"

"What about Dyson's? Please?" I could tell she didn't want to split.

"Whatever." I would never confess I didn't want to split either.

Dyson ended fulling his car. "Cell phones for everybody." He tossed each of us a pre-paid cell phone.

"Gosh, we're just like spies now," Lauren mocked him.

Two hours later we where on our way to Vegas, it may sound like a cliché, but we couldn't think about any other better place to change the bars for money. Lauren got like super excited at this, she loved pocker she said. Dyson and I looked at each other and frowned.

"When have you learnt to play it?" Dyson sounded protective.

"A girl has to have her secrets." She smiled at herself and put her sun glasses on and looked outside the window.

Dyson was driving, that left me a big comfortable place to sleep on the back. I look at them, they were so different, yet they were so similar. They had the same gestures, that was it. They had the same father, Dyson's mother left them when he was a baby and his father met Lauren's mother months later and had Lauren. We never talked about him, he took off too, and Dyson would never forgive that, again. Lauren's mother died in a car accident two years ago, and they had been living with Christopher since then. That's what I'd call disfunctional. Thinking about families made me think about Kenzi again, fuck, I already missed her, and I thought we could used some of her 'habillities' in our situation.

We switched and I was driving now. I took the 4Runner off the asphalt and drove straight out into the desert for about ten minutes.

My arms were going to fall off. Followed by my shoulders and legs and neck, and then I was just going to die. I don't know what I was thinking when I suggested to bury the gold to hide it in the desert.

"I can't dig anymore." Both holes were about three feet deep and four wide. They were separated by about six feet. "It's three a.m. Why is it so hot?"

Dyson tossed his shovel to the ground and sat with his feet in the second hole. "It's too hot to think."

"Too hot to breathe." I sat next to him "To move." I dragged myself back to the 4Runner and pulled out two bottles of water. "We haven't been digging that long."Lauren said. "Thanks." Dyson caught the bottle I tossed to him.

"It's the heat, I'm telling you." Or the fact that neither of us had slept more than a couple hours since before the party.

I heard a noise coming from the truck, like something moving, I took my shovel and moved slowly to the car. The noised came from the trunk, I grabbed a sheet, revealing what was under it.

" What the hell?" I hissed.

"Whoah, Bobo, not so loud, I'm trying to sleep here."

"Kenzi! What the fuck are you doing in the trunk!?" I was astonished.

"Well, you couldn't really believe I was letting you abandon me back there!"

I had no words in that moment. "Fuck Kenzi, it's dangerous." Dyson spat.

"That's why you need momma Kenzi to take care of you guys!" She was smiling like she was in an amusement park. God, I loved that girl.

"This is no joke Kenz…" Lauren said. I was worried, I didn't want her here, there's no place in this world where someone could be sabe with that amount of money.

"Should we get this shit over with?" She screamed, excited.

Feebly, Dyson stood and joined her. Lauren made some calls, she was choosing hotel as she was the one who had been here before.

"Come on, gorgeous. Give me a hand." Kenzi palmed a bar and handed it to me.

"You're brutal." "I want a shower and some sleep and a drink." Dreams of cool water and soft sheets were already filling my head. A naked girl would complete the picture, but I didn't want to get carried away. "I can't have those things until we finish."

"Ugrhhh" That meant they agreed.

We began the laborious process of stacking the gold in one of the holes. Each bar was wrapped in a piece of cloth, duct taped shut, and numbered. Kenzi crouched by the hole and I carefully lobbed the bars into the dirt next to her. I tried really hard not to hit her.

"Shit, Bo." She jumped out of the way for the third time. "I swear if you hit me or you spoil my boots, I'll kill you."

"If you kill me, you'll have to bury my body." I tossed another bar at her. "Do you really want to dig another hole?"

"Just be careful, all right?" "Okay." Another bar landed with a spray of dirt.

Finally we ended and arrived to our hotel, it was the kind of hotel that Lauren would like, all elegant and classy.

"You look like hell," Lauren kindly informed me. Sure, I was sweaty and dirty, and I smelled like dirty sweat, but I thought it was a little unnecessary to point it out.

"Thanks." I was all business. Shower, drink, sleep, shower, drink, sleep. I just had to keep my goals in mind.

"Here are your room keys." Lauren handed me two red plastic key cards.

I was at my room thirty minutes later, Dyson and Kenzi were buying all kinds of junk food she could carrry, and Lauren was in her room.

_I heard a knock on my door, I opened it slowly to find Lauren standing outside, smiling, staring at me. She didn't say a thing, I was in my underwear and she wouldn't stop looking at me up and down._

_"I'm tired and hot and sore. See something you like?"_

_"Maybe you should get a massage at the hotel." Somehow, her hands ended up pressed against my lower back. "You're tense."_

_Damn, that felt good. I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning. Hopefully, she couldn't see that,_

_"I think I need a shower." I went to the bathroom, leaving Lauren sitting on my bed. Fuck, I was tired as hell, but all I could think was how much I wanted to take her on that bed. What was happening to me? It was Lauren for fuck's sake, Dyson sister, Miss I'm so perfect and refined Lauren!_

_I took the rest of my clothes out, I looked at my face on the mirror, anyone could tell how turne don I was at that moment. I stepped in the shower and let the water run trough my body. _

_I heard a noise very near, so I stopped the water and looked at the door, and there she was, I couldn't speak, I stared at her, she started undresing very slowly, she stepped in, face me, she looked at my lips and bite her bottom one. That did it, I knew I was wet that very moment. I took her hand and tangled my fingers with hers, with my other hand I runned my fingers trough her hair. I pulled her closer, our lips weren't inches apart, and she was the one to give in. I felt her lips on mine, she let the kiss linger and her lips came back again, it was more intense, I moaned. _

_She was caressing every inch of my body, my arms, my shoulders, my hips. She never stopped looking at my eyes, I couldn't read her expression, I had never seen Lauren like this before._

_I pressed my body to hers, our breast pressed together, I slipped my right tight between hers, and grabbed one of hers up with my hands, caressing it. I started kissing her jaw line, her lobe, bitting it, sucking gently and approaching my hand to her center._

_She pulled me even closer,I started sucking her neck and leaving small kisses on my way down to her collarbone._

_My heart rate surged. I felt her tongue pressing against my lips, again, seeking entry. Many nights had been spent masturbating to this fantasy. And now it was coming true._

_Lauren stopped. "I want you," She whispered into my mouth. "Yes," agreed. God, how I wanted her, too. "Let's get out of here."_

_We stepped out of the shower and back to the room. We did not speak aloud. Yet the energy between us was spoking volumes. Lauren turned and moved into my arms. _

_She laid down on the bed. I went to her, pressing my weight on topof her, sitting on her, lips moving over her face and neck, my tongue snaking into her ear as she sighed and held me close. Lauren's fingers moved over my breasts. I desperately wanted her mouth there, and I felt her slide down, her lips moving tantalizingly over mer, tongue tracing my nipple, swirling over the taut peak before covering it with her mouth. I groaned deep in my throat, holding her near, my hands on either side of her face. Lauren moved to the other breast, sucking it into her mouth. I pressed her closer, holding her there, thinking that I had never before felt such pleasure._

_Lauren put me on the bed, she moved lower, her lips tracing a path over my stomach and into the hollows of my hips, I rise up to meet her. I whimpered as Lauren moved my legs apart with her shoulder. Lauren's tongue washed across my inner thighs over and over._

_"Please," I begged softly, and Lauren's mouth settled over me, causing me to cry out. My hands clutched the sheets, my head arching back as her tongue moved over me, inside me, stroking me expertly as I writhed beneath her mouth. Dear God, I felt like she would surely explode. Closing her eyes tightly, my hips pressed up to Lauren's face. I breathed deeply, then held my breath as Lauren brought me so close to ecstasy. I started to take a deep breath and then gasped. Suddenly, my hips stilled, pressed up into Lauren's expert mouth, as my orgasm clutched me, consumedme. I cried out loudly, shocked by its intensity._

_I brought Lauren up to her, holding her close as my breathing calmed. I swallowed hard, eyes still tightly closed. Lauren said nothing, just let herself be held as I moved my hands gently over her smooth back. Before long, my lips began exploring her neck. I rolled Lauren over, laying by her side, one leg pinning her to the bed._

_We gazed at each other, our eyes missing nothing. I kissed her lips, tasting myself on them, and it stirred me so. My tongue moved inside Lauren's mouth, over her lips, wetting them.I kissed her neck where her pulse throbbed, my teeth nipping at Lauren's skin, sighing against it. I wanted to please her. I wanted her to feel the same intensity I felt. My hands cupped Lauren's full breasts. I moved her mouth over them, thrilling in the feel of their softness. Her nipples were hard. My tongue teased them, making them swell even more before I took each of them into her mouth._

_Her hands ran through my hair, holding my mouth to her, hips pressing up against my leg. God, she felt so great. I could feel Lauren's wetness on my leg as my hand moved down between our bodies, seeking Lauren's warmth._

_My tongue wet a trail along one thigh, down her leg, and up the other thigh, and Lauren begged me to touch her. I couldn't tell how much aroused I was in that moment._

_"Please. Now," she demanded._

_I pressed her mouth to her, letting her tongue slowly move over her, tasting her. I settled between Lauren's legs, my hands pushing them apart, tongue and mouth quickly stroking her. I felt her press up into me. I slipped my tongue inside her, Lauren clutched at her shoulders. My mouth sucking and my tongue swirling over her. Lauren screamed out, hips thrusting forward against my mouth as her orgasm exploded._

_"Dear God," Lauren breathed as her body slowly calmed. She looked at me in the eye, she was _

_I then laid back against the drew me up into her arms, one hand caressing my hair. Lauren's fingers slid over my body gently before cupping me intimately. I pressed against her hand, wanting to feel her fingers on me, inside me. Lauren teased me, and I reached for her hand, placing it firmly between my legs. Lauren moved over her, feeling her readiness. Several fingers slowly slipped inside me._

Something was bother me, I couldn't tell what it was, and then I openned my eyes. Light, too much light, sun light. What the…

"Morning.." Lauren was sitting on my lap, her hand between my legs, caressing me trough my underwear. "What were you dreaming?"

I didn't know what to do, did she hear me? I knew I was wet, and now I wans't the only one I knew it. Did I scream her name? Fuck.

"Nothing"

"You're lying." She said pressing her hand harder. " I heard you."

I blushed, did she hear her name, me moaning? "What did you hear?"

"You." "C'mon, I want to show you the city! Dyson and Kenzi spent the night drinking and smoking, he filled her with ur plan, they passed out on the reception." I looked at her in disbelief, what was with this new good mood? Not that I was complaining…reception, seriously? Something was really fucked up in their brains.

"I definetely need a shower." I removed her from my lap, but still very close toher, almost brushing. I made my way to the bathroom stripping off my tshirt, letting her see my naked back.

"Where the hell have you guys been?" Dyson was perched on the small desk with a handgun tucked into his waistband, Kenzi was eating cheetos near him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Lauren countered.

"Put that away." I pointed to the gun. "Why the fuck do you need that?"

"What? This makes you nervous?" He pulled it out, waved it around, and tucked it back into his pants. "Well, I've been fuckin' nervous. So deal. You guys have been gone forever and neither of you were answering your phones."

"Damn, Dyson. Calm down." I put up my hands in surrender. "And put the gun away, please."

"I don't know why they freak you out so much. You're a better shot than I am." He was right, but just because I could shoot like a cowboy didn't mean I liked guns. I didn't see why he had to bring that shit in the first place. Dyson took the gun and put it back into the small safe on top of five gold bars.

"It's a machine made to kill people." Exasperated, I fell back onto the designer sofa. We'd had this conversation before.

"Hey, Dyson?" Lauren collapsed next to me. "Guess what we're doing?"

"How drunk are you?" he asked in response. "Suitably," she said. "What does that mean?" I'd never been suitably drunk in my life. Lauren ignored me. "Dy, I said, guess what we're doing?" "Getting married?" "No. We tried. It's illegal here." She wasn't exactly telling the truth. We'd been walking down the strip, and I asked where all the chapels were and she said she didn't know. That wasn't exactly trying. "We are going swimming."

"No, you're not." Dyson sounded the voice of reason. "Sure we are." I backed Lauren up. It was my idea after all. "No, you're not." "Dyson, we are." I used my serious tone. "Not happening." His serious tone was better. Maybe the deep voice helped. "Yeah, huh," Lauren brilliantly contributed.

"Come on, Dyson," I whined. "Why not?" "You're both drunk," he said. "If we keep annoying you, will you give in?" I didn't think he'd

actually go for that. "Not even a little bit." "Come on." Lauren jumped up and immediately fell down. "Definitely not now." "Is it weird that I'm totally attracted to her right now?" I asked

Dyson. "Yes."

"Let's go swimming," I said again like it was a new idea.

"No. The pool is probably closed and my sister is about to pass out." And then she did.

"Damn."

"Your sister sure knows how to pick accommodations." After two days, we'd taken full advantage of the disgustingly opulent hotel Lauren had chosen. That meant mornings were killers, after nights drinking all the liquid in the hotel.

"Hey, happy birthday." Dyson held out his mimosa and I tapped mine against it.

"Thanks."

He hooked a finger in his oversized aviators to look at me. "You feel old?"

"Yep." "Me too." The sunglasses went back into place.

"So what's with the bathing suit?"

"What's wrong with my bathing suit?" We both looked down at the very slim mid-thigh length trunks.

Dyson knew his marijuana, he knew computers, he knew wine, and he girls, but he didn't know shit about clothes.

"Just a little shorter than usual." Actually, they weren't bad. He had the muscle in his legs to pull them off. "Way shorter. And super tight. You see James Bond wearing them and thought you'd try it out?"

Dyson's jaw dropped. "Daniel Craig. How'd you know?"

"You're so transparent, darlin'. At least you kept your chest hair."

"You know I was going to give you your birthday present, but now there's no way in hell."

"I thought the party was my birthday present." News to me. I wasn't going to complain about more presents though.

"Sort of. Lauren and I talked about something else though. I couldn't convince her, but..." He waved his hand through the air, which made him look exactly like his sister.

He reached for something on his jacket and held me a Little box. When I openned it i couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was a necklace, one similar to the one the siblings used to wear, it was their mothers. My jaw dropped.

"I can't…wow, thank you Dyson." I was almost in tears, I threw myself to his arms and hugged him tight.

At that exact moment Kenzi and Lauren appeared.

"Happy birthday Bobo!" She runned and hugged me so tight I thought she was gonna kill me. "have you bought me something?" She asked, looking at me with puppy eyes.

"Why should I…"

"I'm joking! I've got something for you." She showed me another box. This one contained a dagger, it was beautiful, and it had something engraved on the blade. _You are my heart_."You need to be safe now."

Lauren was smiling at Kenzi, that was sweet, she congratulated her for the dagger idea. Then she looked at me, her eyes went down to my necklace and she went pale.

**Hi again! haha What's up with the necklace? What does Lauren hide? Too many questions without an answer...keep reading and find! ;)**


	7. Pocker face

**Hey! I'm here again! And it's Friday! That means it's sexy time ;) I'll be posting two chapters today cause it's friday, I feel like it and I want to! **

**I wanted to explain why they buried the gold, well, they needed to hide it while they found somewhere to change it, and it's already difficult enough to find a place to change one bar. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it, and forgive any mistakes, I didn't have the time to reread it! Thank you for your reviews, they're really appreciated! Peace! C.**

"They've been arguing for hours!" Kenzi hissed, wanting them to hear her. She was already dressed , ready to go out, we were heading to the city, and then we promised her to go shopping, then to the casino tonight, and she was dying of anticipation.

"It's been only thirty minutes, Kenz." " I know, but it's your birthday!" "Anyway, what's gotten into them?!"

"Dunno… I think it's something to do with the necklace, it was their mom's" I couldn't hide the dissapointment in my voice. I knew it was something valuable forthem, but I never expected Lauren to react that way, it was weird, she was hidding something, it hurt.

Lauren came back to the room, followed by Dyson, but she didn't seem annoyed, just worried. An awkward silence filled the place. But that was one of Kenzi's virtues.

"Let's go!" She grabbed mine and Lauren's arms and looked at Dyson and lead us to the exit door.

We have been shopping for hours now. Kenzi's hands full of bages with almost a dozen pairs of boots. She was eating an ice cream, and I thought I had never seen her that happy, she was like a kid on Christmas.

Kenzi dragged Dyson into other shop, she winked at me. I approached Lauren, she was sitting on the floor, she looked exhausted, drinking a whole litre of coffee, I sitted next to her, she didn't bother to look at me, she was still pissed, or maybe not pissed, buf definetely worried.

" Hey gorgeous" I tried.

"Why are you here?" She still didn't look at me.

"Kenzi is in another shop, and Dyson is the one suffering this time, so…I'm having a break of shoe shopping."

She looked at me in the eye, with a serious look. "That's not what I meant. Why did you leave home with us, you didn't need to, it's not your problem, and now you're in danger." Her voice sounded broken, and in that momento I felt safe, I felt she cared, in that momento I wouldn't have cared if I had a gun pointed to my head.

"You are family, I'm not leaving you alone with this, never." I touch her chin making her look at me. "You know you can tell me, right?"

"Tell you what" I knew she was avoiding me, but I wasn't giving up yet.

"What bothers you?" "What happens?"

"You" She simply answered. She turned and looked at me again. I waited for her to keep talking. " You're always what happens. With Nadia, the day I come back, the day you found the gold, it's just…it gets difficult to avoid you."

"With Nadia, I didn't know, sorry, things would have been different if I knew you loved her.." Lauren shook her head, tears growing in her eyes.

"It's not like that. It hurt, I had been dating her for almost a year when…well, you know, but the moment I saw you I didn't want to be you, didn't want to touch her, I wanted to be her, I wanted to be the one you were kissing on your car." My eyes widened, was she confessing she liked me?

"I had a crush on you when we were childs, back in high school." She was laughing at herself. I couldn't find my words, that meant she didn't like me anymore? I cleared my throat.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What for? To get a fuck on the back of your car, on the bathrooms?" I was gonna argue, but there was no point at doing it, she was right, fuck sometimes I don't like myself either.

"Why are you always mad at me?"

"I'm not" " yeah, sure." "Really, I'm not, but I still think you shouldn't be here, this is not your battle."

"But it is, cause it's yours."

"There is plenty of things you don't know, that makes your decision of running away with us not valid." I loved it when she speaked as if everything could be solve with a calculator.

"Are you talking about the necklace?" I inquired.

"I'm talking about me." With that she stood up, Dyson and Kenzi had stepped out of the shop.

We were all exhausted, we came back to the hotel, I could really use a nap before hitting the casino.

We lost Lauren five minutes after stepping onto the casino floor. It was probably good that she had suggested that we stay in one casino all night. Didn't want to get lost or anything. Not that it mattered. We were there to have a good time. The hotel casino was a step up from the usual. Just like our hotel suite, it was all trendy and art deco and subtle class, but underneath that, it was still a casino. Slot machines covered the elaborate carpet, and there were still unshaven, unclean men wandering around looking decimated. Dyson, Kenzi and I were just playing the part of gamblers. Mostly because we had no clue how to gamble. Slots were fun because they required no thought. Blackjack was cool because we could add to twenty-one. Craps looked cool, but we couldn't follow it so we stayed away. After all those James Bond movies, we probably should have understood it, but, oh well. A couple hours in, we were pretty much breaking even. I was up ten bucks. Dyson was down about fifteen. Not too bad.

"Where do you think Lauren is?"

"Dunno." Dyson handed me another beer from one of the beautiful, though slightly vapid waitresses.

"Should we find her? I want to go hit up that club."

"Yeah, I don't want to lose any more money. Makes me feel like a loser." Kenzi pouted her lips and tried to summon some tears to her eyes. She was definitely drunk.

"Darlin', when you lose money, you are a loser. That's where the name comes from."

"You always know how to make a girl feel good." She gave me a sloppy smile. We slung our arms around each other and started wandering through the casino looking for Lauren. Our efforts didn't get us far. Thirty minutes later, we were drunker and no closer to finding Dyson's sexier half.

"Excuse me." I got the attention of a waitress. "Have you seen a really hot girl who looks like him?" I pointed to Dyson. "But like super hotter than him." That was kind of what I was trying to say.

"You mean Ms. Lewis?" she asked. Whoa.

"That's her." Dyson didn't seem to notice that some waitress knew his sister by name. Or if he did, he didn't care.

"She's in the back playing poker. If you'd like I can show you where." The woman offered with a smile, looking at the three of us. Helpful.

"That'dbegreat." No more beer for Kenzi.

The waitress took off weaving through people, smiling at some, ignoring others. At the back of the casino, she escorted us into the poker room and pointed us toward Lauren.

"Thanks," I attempted, but she was already gone.

Kenzi got lost in our little journey when she spot the roullete, or was it another waitress with a full tray of glasses of champagne. Dyson and I leaned against the wall and watched Lauren. She didn't look nearly as lost as she should have. Actually, she looked totally sexy. Her soft, pale pink shirt was unbuttoned about halfway down her sternum giving an appropriately tormenting view of cleavage. Wide cuffs were turned up to just below her elbow, which made her look like a swindler and a poker player all at the same time. I couldn't see her eyes; they were hidden by Dyson's oversized aviators. She was smoking a slim cigar. I wasn't close enough, but I knew that, under the reek of cigar smoke, it smelled faintly of honey.

In a practiced motion, she pushed her hair back and deliberately placed her cards on the fabric-covered table. Around her, the other players and few spectators leaned back with resigned faces.

"Dyson." He stopped playing with his tie long enough to look at me. "She looks like she knows what she's doing."

"So?" He leaned over and tried to play with his tie again. His must have gotten boring.

"Stop it." I smacked his hand away.

"Come on. Let's go." Great, he'd entered his drunk and whining phase.

"Fine. I'll go get her." I left him leaning against the wall and went for Lauren.

I leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You look like a real poker player."

Her shoulders stiffened, only for a second and then she relaxed. "Gentlemen." She turned to the only other woman at the table, a striking blonde with creamy freckled skin. "And lady." Lauren flashed that grin like only she could, that one that gives her wrinkles on one side of the mouth more than the other, that one that can get a girl wet. Instantly, I was jealous. "Thank you for the game, but I'm being summoned." She stood, tipped the dealer, and slid her arm through mine. I straightened, assuming the role of escort, and led her back to Dyson.

"Whoa." Dyson looked up from the carpet he was studying. "You guys look like a couple."

Lauren and I looked at each other. Her skin tight, dark gray pants looked good next to my black tight dress. We looked like we'd dressed together. Like fuckin' high school prom.

"I think she looks stunning" I simply added.

"I agree." She said, grinning cocky.

"Why are you guys agreeing?" Dyson looked shocked. "Don't be

nice to each other. I don't like it."

"You always wanted us to get along. Why are you complaining now?" I teased him. "Well, you can get along. Just don't team up on me."

"How drunk is he?" Lauren leaned closer to look at his eyes. "I think it's time to slow down, bro." "I think it's time to go clubbin'." He started making music and dancing by himself. Lauren glanced at me and I nodded.

"Okay, we'll go clubbin'. I want to get something out of the room first though." She took him by the arm and steered him out of the casino. In the elevator, he fell asleep on my shoulder. We got him to the room and dumped him on the couch.

I felt my pone vibrate, it was Kenzi. _Bobalicious! I think I may be coming back with some company tonight, don't be there. Love _I showed my pone to Lauren, she giggled, I looked at her frustrated, where was I supposed to sleep?

"All right, you ready to go?"

"Go where?" Lauren frowned.

"The club downstairs. It's supposed to be cool." Lauren looked pointedly at Dyson. "Just turn him on his side." I'd lost her.

"His side?"

"So if he pukes he won't choke." She grimaced at my explanation. I went to the bar, grabbed a bottle of water, and set it on the table next to Dyson. Then I turned him on his side. "There, he'll be fine."

"Really?" "Yes. Now, come on." Reluctantly, she followed me to the door.

The club was dark, as they should be, and seething with the sort of sexuality that only youth and misunderstood immaturity can inspire. We passed through a lounge of sorts, down a subtly lavish hallway, and descended into Tryst. There was a waterfall, we were told, but that didn't interest me.

"Let's dance." My grip on Lauren tightened as she walked with me and I dragged her to the floor, the booze in my system making me stupid and bold.

Lauren didn't pull away like I expected. She moved closer and, upon reflection, put her arms around my shoulders. The song was heavy, thick, like sweat, and desperate. When Lauren's leg pressed between mine, I didn't even consider it. I just pulled her against me tighter. We moved like that, pushed closer by the crowds, not caring about our precarious embrace. Her warm breath on my neck was indistinguishable from the hot air in the club, except I knew it was hers. My heartbeat was probably visible under my no longer crisp shirt. Her hand slid down and rested just above my breast, over my heart, and I knew she could feel it. Those dark eyes looked up at mine, she always had that look when she was drunk or mad. Lauren wasn't drunk though and she wasn't mad either. She was something else.

I was going to make an ass of myself. There was no way I could play off a botched kiss or grope as a drunken mistake. I'd need a lot more booze to pull that off. Resigned to the insatiable hunger I was feeling, I just kept dancing. It bordered on pain considering my increasingly swollen clit and how my nipples rubbed against her trough my clothes. As if Lauren knew, she pressed closer so her lips hovered above my neck. I needed something to distract myself, anything.

"I need a drink." I dropped back a step. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Me too." I nodded and took her hand to drag her behind me to the bar. "Two single malts," I shouted to the bartender. When they were placed before me, I downed mine in one gulp and asked for another. It went in one smooth swallow as well. I'd barely picked up the third when Lauren dragged me away and put me at a table.

"You okay there?" There was almost some concern in her voice. "Fine. Just warm." That was sort of truthful. "That probably won't help." She tried pulling on my hand. "Come on. Let's dance some more." "I'm good for now, thanks." If I went back out there with her, there was a good chance I'd embarrass myself. The third drink was even easier.

"Come on."

"Really, thank you. I'm good." I was begging her to let me alone. She didn't see it that way.

"Fine. Have fun." I saluted her with the glass she left behind then emptied it.

Her hands were buried in my hair. I pushed my tongue into her mouth and out again, a teasing promise for later. She had great lips. I slid my hands up the outside of her thighs inching her skirt higher. I was considering taking her to the bathroom to finish the job when someone grabbed the back of my neck and jerked me away. Not again.

"I want to go," Lauren said. Her eyes shot back and forth between me and the girl I was making out with.

"So go," I said. I didn't need to hold her hand. "You need to take me up to the room." Demanding. "Sorry." The girl removed my hand from her skirt. "I didn't mean to get in the middle of anything."

"You didn't," I assured her. "Bo." Lauren looked like she could kill. "Damnit, Lauren. What?"

"Take me back to the room."

TBC...


	8. Watch me

**Hi again! I've got more! Nothing really happens in this chapter, or maybe everything...depends on the way you see it! Have fun, hope you like it and thank you for everything! ;) C.**

I broke away breathless, meeting the Lauren's dark eyes. "Bedroom eyes," I murmured, all the time thinking _Where is my head?_

"What?"

"A look Kenzi told me that indicated someone was good in bed. We could test it out."

_No, no, no, _I could hear whatLauren's logic was saying, but every other part of her was pressed against my body. "That could be interesting. I always like proving theories." She replied.

I slide my arm round her and guided her through the room and pushed her against the wall.

Lauren left a trail of kisses along my jawline, along my sensitive neck as I pushed her shirt off her shoulders so I could caress the sides of her slight breasts.

"You keep doing that," I warned, "and something's going to happen."

"Promise?" I leaned back, exposing my throat. I dropped my hands down to unzip her jeans. Wetness greeted my fingers as Lauren groaned in my ear, leaned against the wall. I turned to face back to her and kissed her passionately.

" Bed. Now." She comanded. We made it to the bed and I threw her and placed myself on top.

"Tell me what you like"

Lauren's fingers tangled in my hair. "You" she said. "Anyway, anyhow. Take me, love me, fuck me." She shuddered as I stroked her, light caresses over her arms, her legs. She whimpered as my tongue caressed her nipples. She closed her eyes, which intensified the sensations that were lightning flashes down to her clit. I slowly moved down her. I held her, firm hands, a strong yet gentle touch. Just when Lauren thought she couldn't stand it anymore, I parted my lips and sank in against her.

"Bo, fuck, I'm gonna…" She came sudden and hard but I didn't stop. Lauren rose up on her elbows, parting her legs to watch me, I looked up at her without leaving her. Lauren's head tipped back and she closed her eyes again, lost in the pleasure. Then she felt the penetration, the thrust, the withdrawal, and it was enough to take her over the edge again. She collapsed onto her back, gripping the coverlet with one hand and reaching for my head with the other.

With a sudden move she sit on the top of me, she grab my hand and guided between her tights. I'd never been so turned on, the wetness in my tights increased considerably. That woman was gonna kill me. She was all the word perfect meant to me, she was brainy, yet funny; elegant, yet slutty. She was driving me crazy. She took two of my fingers and penetrated herself with them, I pushed them harder into her, I wanted to get deeper, the deepest she ever had. I curled my fingers inside her several times while she started to rock her hips, riding my hand. "Lauren, fuck, you're gonna kill me." She move her mouth to my ear and whispered " I'm trying to." She moaned, she started moving faster, screaming my name, god, I loved my name in that moment.

She was shuddering, trying to catch her breath, I wrapped my legs around her, my arms wrapped around her. "Oh, God," she muttered, shaking her head as she came down from that marvelous high, feeling my body still against her. She arched, lifted and turned, so that I was on her back. She smiled at my surprise when she looked up at her. "I want to please you" Lauren said breathlessly. God.

I opened, offering as Lauren straddled me, took my wrists and pinned them down against the bed. Lauren bent down to suck the darker upright nipple, then worked her way down, tongue touching, tasting until she lay between my legs. I thought I died and went to heaven. Lauren, my Lauren, Miss so perfect Lewis was between my legs. She let go of my wrists, sought out my center, my hands entangled in her hair, pushing her where I wanted her, needed her to go. She tasted me, penetrated me, I pulled the pillow over my face, I screamed her name countless times and then the spasm as I came, sudden, hard, gripping Lauren's hand to hold her in place, riding her hand.

When the aftershocks finished and Lauren could withdraw, she crawled up to lay beside me, our heads on the pillows as they watched each other. "You said" I was able to speak with some sanity now, "there was things I didn't know about you. What was that?"

"I don't remember anymore" Lauren confessed, she was giggling.

I laughed, reaching up to touch her cheek. I felt unbelievably light, free. "You are marvelous."

"You're pretty good yourself." Lauren reached for me, slid her arm around me, pulled me close so we were nestled against each other. "This theory we're testing, is it proven on just one trial or does it take multiple tests?"

"Confirmation tests are always good." I smiled back at her. Round two.

* * *

Next day I woke up at noon, she had left a note _I'm going to do some stuff, tell Dyson not to worry. _Where the fuck was she? I went for a walk, I needed to think.

"Act normal." Next to me, that's where. Crouched down in the middle of the swarm of people. She twisted her hair up and put a cap on. She was trying to disguise herself. So I unsnapped my shirt, slid it down my shoulders, and handed it to her. The girl caught on quick. She threw the shirt on and straightened.

"What's going on?" My heart rate was through the roof. I'd probably hyperventilate.

"Someone recognized me." Yep, I was going to have a heart attack. "Who?" "Just keep my face covered," Lauren said. I slung my arm around her shoulders as if we were a normal couple. The move also obscured her face. "Can you see them?" "To your left. Big guy. Unbuttoned white shirt." Casually, I turned away from her. There he was. Except Lauren didn't mention the bulge under his left arm. "He's packing."

Lauren glanced around me. Her eyes filled with panic. I tried to look calm for her sake.

"Fuck. He's coming over here." She was right. The guy was walking directly toward us, but he was watching the street. Slowly, he turned his head in our direction. "He can't see my face," Lauren whispered desperately.

I did the only thing I could think of. I kissed her. It worked in the movies. Lauren just went with it, which was good because I was worried she might have chosen getting shot over kissing me. Apparently not. She twisted so we were facing each other and I put my arms around her shoulders. When she moaned into my mouth, I knew it wasn't just for show. Her hips rocked into mine sending heat through my body. I swear, I knew fucking divinity in that moment.

Holding back was too much. I pressed past her lips with my tongue, searching her mouth. The hand gripping my shirt tightened. She pushed my tongue back, bit my lip, and sucked on it. Fuck. This time I moaned. Lauren took that as an invitation to go further. She kissed me even harder, bruising my lips, cutting off my air. I was pretty sure I could survive without air as long as she didn't stop. That was when she pulled away. We were both breathing hard and staring at each other. She was still close enough for my biceps to cover her face.

"Do you think he's still here?" She whispered. I drew her into me so her face was tucked into my neck. The mass of people had dispersed. The water show was over. The guy who'd been following her was gone.

"He's gone." I released her.

"Are you sure?" We started walking back to the hotel. Neither of us saw him. For good measure, we ducked into a casino and left through a side entrance. After that, Lauren pulled me across the street. We walked through two more casinos, a restaurant, and a hotel lobby before she seemed satisfied that we weren't being followed. Vegas was great for losing a tail.

"So who the hell was that?" It took only a little nerve to ask.

"My uncle Vito." Dude sounded like something out of The Godfather. "He's not actually my uncle. Just kind of."

"He's in the mob or something?" I joked.

"Something like that." What the hell did that mean? She didn't look like she was kidding. The silence that followed lasted us all the way to the room.

When we got there, I crossed to the windows. With my hands planted on the glass wall.

"We have a problem," Lauren said quietly. She leaned her shoulder against the window next to me.

"A problem?" A rough laugh pushed out of my constricted throat. "Just one?" Lauren closed her eyes and hung her head. "Are you talking about Uncle Vito," I spit out the name, "seeing you? Or how about the fact that you even have an Uncle Vito." She flinched. "Or," the jagged laugh escaped me again. "Or maybe." I turned and locked eyes with her. "That I've never, in my life, been kissed like that."

Lauren's delicate hand moved to my trembling arm, still propped against the glass. She rubbed it, only for a second. "The last one. The others are none of your business." Then she pulled my arm down and spun me so my back was against the window. There was a pounding in my veins that made my hypersensitive clit ache. But I was dissapointed,angry, none of my business? What the hell? I was there too for fuck's sake. She wanted to play? Well, I was gonna win, it was my game.

I tried to push up to take control of the situation. Lauren held me back with one palm against my chest. She opened the button fly of my shorts and they fell to my ankles. Those slate brown eyes never left mine. My tank top was forced up and over my head. Deft fingers slid under the elastic of my thong and dropped those too. I was naked, fucking wet, swollen, and so ready. This was not what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to be in charge. I always was.

"Lauren." She wasn't even touching me. Just staring. "Take off your clothes." Even with my forceful tone, it was a pathetic attempt to regain control.

"Don't talk. Don't move. Don't fucking breathe unless I tell you to." She planted one hand next to my head and slid the other between my legs. Holy fuck, that felt good. It was different that the night before, that night was worried, her feelings were out, this Lauren seemed confident, I could smel the adrenaline running trough her veins. I started to double over from either pleasure or pain. I couldn't tell which. She grabbed a handful of my hair and held me in place. "Watch me." So I did.

I watched her tits sway as she circled my clit. I watched her bite her lip and I could tell holding back was killing her. When I begged her to fuck me harder, I watched the grin twitch at the corner of her mouth as she slowed down. Her eyes went liquid when she fucking finally pushed inside me. The muscles in her arm tensed with each thrust into me. Something resembling words flowed from my mouth as I cried, screamed, begged for release.

I didn't think. I didn't think about Dyson. I didn't think about the fourteen years of hell we'd put each other through. We were kids I know, but still. I didn't think about the cruelty in her words before, 'cause right then it was gone. No anger. Just this.

Lauren didn't kiss me until that last second, the moment when I contracted around her fingers deep inside and stiffened. That was when her lips descended and let me know, this wasn't fucking; it was way beyond that.

I slid to the floor, all strength gone. She followed still kissing me, still inside me, but unable to hold me up. Slowly, carefully, Lauren extracted her hand. Just to make me crazy, she licked her fingers.

Roughly, I wrenched her shirts over her head, pushed her to the ground, and dragged off her shorts. "Now I'm in charge."

"Whatever you want to think, sweetheart." The last word came out a taunting drawl.

I gripped behind her knees and yanked her closer. Lauren reached back and linked her hands behind her head like she was about to take a nap. I dipped my head between her thighs and blew lightly across her engorged clit. Her hips jumped so hard I laughed. When I looked at her, she had her hands over her eyes and her jaw was clenched.

"Watch me," I demanded. Lauren dropped her hands and propped herself up on her elbows. She was looking at me with unadulterated need. When I licked the length of her clit, she didn't drop her gaze. It wasn't until I drove my tongue inside her that she moaned and dropped her head back. I stopped.

Her head snapped up. "Fuck, Bo. Please."

Fast enough to make her gasp, I moved up the length of her body, hovering, aching to press against the naked flesh under me. "I told you to watch me."

"Okay," she whimpered. My mouth dropped to her fantastic nipples. I alternated sucking on them until she was writhing and pleading, until I couldn't hang on any longer. That was when I pressed inside her cunt, pushing hard until she screamed my name. With each thrust, we slid across the floor. And then we were up against the glass again. Lauren reached back and braced her hands. Her hips were in the air fucking my fingers. I couldn't even feel my arm anymore, just a mass of overworked muscle that ended inside of Lauren Lewis.

One of her hands left the window and curled around my head. She pulled me against her as she came. Our foreheads pressed together, slick with sweat, as we stared into each other's eyes.

Lauren's phone rang. "Ignore it," I said. "Just don't stop." The rhythm of her hips picked up. I curled my fingers forward urging Lauren to come. The phone rang again. "Fuck, fucking, fuck." She grabbed the phone and opened it. She stopped thrusting into my hand, except for an involuntary twitch when I put my thumb to her clit. She grabbed my wrist as if that would stop me.

"Don't do it." I punctuated my second warning with a slow thrust into her.

"What?" she answered the phone. I could hear Kenzi's voice. I was so screwed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She whispered, looking at me. Just to mess with her, I started to work my hand faster again. Her jaw clenched. "That's fine just—" I thrust into her pussy hard. Lauren slammed the phone into the headboard and screamed as she came. Then she slumped forward against me breathing raggedly. She slowly brought the phone back to her ear. "Sorry, Kenzi, what was that?" I grinned at her. "Yeah, guess I dozed off. No, that's fine. Okay, see you then." She closed the phone and tossed it behind her.

"Who was that?" I asked innocently.

"Bitch, I'm going to make you pay." The threat made my stomach drop with wanting.

"I told you to ignore it."

"Ignore this." Lauren moved back, pushed my legs apart, and sucked my clit into her mouth. Bitch.

* * *

"Dyson's gonna kill me." I played with her velvety hair. It was never a good idea to sleep with your friend's sister.

"Me too," she murmured into my chest. "Why's he gonna kill you?" "Because of you." Lauren opened her eyes again and raised her head to look at me. "I slept with his best friend." She smirked. "Of course, he'll probably kill you first."

"Great. I feel much better now."

"We have to tell him." "Yeah…"

"So…we tell him now?"

"Maybe tomorrow will be better." "yeah that's better"

"We'll tell him we we're ready" "uhhmm"

The room phone rang. I jumped and almost fell over. Smooth. "Hello?" Lauren quirked an eyebrow at me then turned away. "No way. No, that's perfect. Thanks. Where is that?" She started laughing at whatever it was the person on the phone said. I was immediately envious of them. "Yeah, I got you. All right, bye."

"Girlfriend?"

The look Lauren gave me made my insides quiver. Not in a good way either. "There's a place near Highway Fifteen," she said. "The guy who runs it buys gold by weight and is good at keeping quiet."

"No shit." What the hell had she been doing and how dis she manage to get that information? I looked at her, my eyes widened.

"Let's go."

**Liked it? **


	9. Caught

**Hey there! I bring you some action, guns and a lot of trouble here! Not too many answers yet, sorry about that! Liked the sexy time in my last update? Hope you enjoy and thanks for your support as always! C.**

Lauren had changed into a T-shirt and thrown on a navy blue, cropped blazer. The sleeves almost reached her wrists and it was a little tight. Totally hot. Whatever. I looked like a heathen and she didn't. Nothing new there.

"Should I bring something to put the cash in? Will the guy give us cash? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Nervous? Me? No, not at all.

"Here." Lauren tossed a heavy backpack to me. She'd already put the bar in it.

"You're prepared." "I just think ahead," she said in a way that implied that I didn't. We went back down to the valet pickup in silence. It wasn't until we were in the car that she said, "Oww, fuck, I can't drive with this," and reached behind her to pull out a small, stainless steel handgun. "Hold it, okay?"

"Fuck no." There was no way I was going to take it. "Why the hell did you bring that?"

"Because I like it better than that massive Glock my brother swears by." Lauren leaned over and settled the small, elegant Walther into my lap. The way she did it would have turned me on if it hadn't been a gun. Okay, it kind of did anyway.

"But why did you bring a damn gun in the first place?" She gave me that you dumbass look. "Don't you have a holster or something?" "I'm wearing it." Lauren pulled open her blazer to reveal a dark brown shoulder holster and another Walther. "Can't fit two in there." "Why do you need two?" I yelled. "You might need one." For such a smart girl she could be so stupid. "What for?" She didn't have an answer for that.

"Can you tell me again why's not Dyson here with us?" " Do you want Kenzi to come with us too?" My face dropped, I didn't want her to be in danger. " That's what I thought, we need him to keep her busy, besides he had a horrible hungover, he wouldn't be useful." But I knew better, she wanted to protect him, that girl loved to put herself in first line of fire.

Lauren drove like she knew where she was going. Soon we were away from the chaos and decadence of the Strip driving through streets that looked increasingly shady. Without the pervasive flashing lights, the darkness seemed even more oppressive.

"Where the hell are we going?" I asked after we passed the fourth very obvious dealer.

"See that cement building? The one with no sign." She had to be kidding.

"Yeah?" We drove past it. I didn't get a good look inside.

"That's it." Lauren found a spot on the side of the road and parallel parked. We were a block and a half away.

"You're out of your mind." She expected me to walk? "Drive closer."

"There aren't any spaces. Do you see any?" No. "You scared?" "No. It's just a long way." "Want one of my guns?" Lauren started laughing at her own joke. "I'll be fine, thanks." I yanked up the hood of my sweatshirt and got out of the car. The sidewalk was empty. Recesses in the buildings to my left looked like the perfect place for someone to hide. I'd never see them coming. My instinct was to grip the backpack with both hands, but I knew that would be too obvious.

The building Lauren had pointed out looked like it could survive Armageddon. Bars covered the scratched window, and I had to ring a buzzer to get in. A camera mounted above the door adjusted to get a good view of my face. Apparently, I was cool enough because the lock clicked open. I took a deep breath and stepped into the cubicle. Once the door closed behind me, the one in front of me clicked open as well. This place was covered just a little too well for the hood we were in.

"How may I help you?" the tall, stooped man behind the counter asked when I walked in. His heavy accent made it difficult to understand him. My best guess was Hungarian, but I'd only known one guy with a Hungarian accent so I wasn't sure.

"I was told you buy gold."

He nodded "Well, let us see the bar." His spindly hand waved me forward.

My hands were so shaky I almost dropped the bar when I tried to give it to him. For a second, I wondered if it was a fake and Christopher was laughing his ass off at us right now. No, Christopher was probably ready to kill us right now.

The man was carefully inspecting the bar, doing whatever it was he did to verify its authenticity. I glanced around while he did his thing. Glass cases formed a U along three walls and were filled with various jewelry, heavy gold cuffs, tennis bracelets, diamond encrusted Rolexes.

When he made a noise of approval, I returned my attention to him. He ran his fingers over the numbers engraved on the top of the bar. Then he typed something into the ancient computer on the counter and told me the amount. Holy shit.

"So you'll buy it then?" I was playing cool.

"Yes, of course. It is quite beautiful," he mused. "Is it not?" We both gazed at the gleaming surface that seemed to emit light rather than reflect it.

"Very."

He nodded, satisfied that I appreciated the bar. "I will get your money."

"Thank you."

* * *

Ten minutes later, I was back on the sidewalk. The backpack was much fuller and much lighter. Up ahead, I could see the side of our car. As I started going toward it, a guy turned the corner and started walking in my direction. He looked older than me, maybe forty, so I ignored him. He wasn't exactly young thug material. When he didn't move to one side for me to walk by, I got worried. I knew I was just paranoid though so I kept going. When I started to pass him, he grabbed my arm and dragged me into one of the alcoves. He was Vito.

"What the fuck?" I shrugged his hand off my arm. "Get the hell off me." I pushed him aside and walked into a wall of flesh. Shit.

"What's in the bag?" the guy behind me asked.

"Nothing. Let me go." The backpack was jerked down my arms and the wall of flesh laughed. He grabbed the front of my sweatshirt and pulled me up close to his face. The stench of old cigars and peppermint invaded my nostrils. There was another guy behind me, he unzipped the backpack.

"That's a lot of cash, kid," he said. "Take a look at that ."

The grip on my sweatshirt was eased enough for Vito to lean forward and look in the bag.

"Where'd you get the money, kiddo?" "Your mom." Why did I say that? "What?" Vito yanked up so I was inches from his fat face. "Your mom." Might as well roll with it. "She likes the way I lick her pu—" I was thrown into the wall next to me. I tried to put my hands up in time to catch myself. It didn't work. Vito came up behind me and pushed my face into the rough cement. Then he pulled my head back by my hair, scraping my face against the wall.

Where the fuck was Lauren?

"Here's how this is going to work. We ask questions, you answer them. Got it?" I didn't answer fast enough. He slapped me again. "You got it?"

"Whatever." I wasn't telling them shit. My mouth started to slowly fill with blood.

"Where'd you get the cash?" Vito asked.

I hawked some blood and spit onto his loafers. "I told you. Your mom." This time he just punched me in the stomach. I doubled over and yelled obscenities at the pavement. He grabbed my sweatshirt again and made me stand up straight.

"New question. Where are those bastard kids?"

Shit. "I don't have any kids." I played dumb. Vito didn't buy it. He did punch me in the stomach again though.

"Where are the goddamn kids?" He tossed me back into the wall. My head smacked into the cement making it throb.

"Where's Dyson?" The other guy stepped up to the plate when I didn't answer. Vito must have been tired. Beating up girls is hard.

"I don't know anyone named Dyson." I was punched in the ribs this time. I spit some more blood at him. He grabbed me by the hair and pushed my face back into the wall. His body pressed into mine, pinning me. I tried not to hyperventilate.

"How about pretty little Lauren?" he murmured in my ear. The rasp of his voice when he said her name made me want to kill him.

"Bitch, I'm gonna punch your teeth out." I struggled to push him off. I was going to knock him out. I could do it.

They laughed. "Come on, kid. You're driving their car. We know they're with you," Vito said.

"I'm right here, you stupid fuck," came Lauren's voice from behind us. I couldn't see anything, but Vito moved away from me. "That's right. Get the fuck off of her."

Finally free, I turned and looked at Lauren. She had a handgun trained on each of them.

"Get over here, babe." I didn't need to be told twice. "We've been looking for you, Lauren." Vito stepped toward her and started reaching into his jacket. "Get up against the wall. Hands where I can see them."

Vito laughed at her instructions. "Do I look like I'm fucking around?" Neither answered, but they both turned and put their hands on the wall.

"Search them," she instructed me. "I want guns, cell phones, and car keys."

"I'm not touching them." Fighting some nineteen-year-old punk with my friends to back me up was way different from those fuckers kicking the crap out of me.

"Do it." One look into those cool gray eyes and I jumped to feel up Vito and and the other. They let me, but it was more like bored indulgence than fear.

"Come on, honey. Drop the act," Vito said. I patted him down. He was packing a massive handgun. I put that on the pavement. Lucky for me, their car keys were in his jacket pocket. I really didn't want to reach into his pants pocket. That would just be disgusting. When I dropped his cell phone next to his gun, Lauren demolished it with a quick stomp and twist of her heel.

I moved on to the other guy. The piece he was carrying joined Vito's, along with a knife, a scary serrated number.

"Stop this shit," Vito advised after Lauren killed the other cell phone too. "Just come with us. You won't be in any trouble." He sounded like he was consoling an unruly toddler.

"Sure, why not?" She was being sarcastic. He believed her though. "Good girl." He spun to face her. Lauren pistol-whipped him. His head flung to the side. "Did I say you could turn around?" He cupped his face in response. A trickle of blood seeped between his fingers. "No, you dumb fuck. Now, face the wall."

"All right, kiddo, you made your point." Vito did as he was told. Warily, he glanced over his shoulder at her.

Lauren handed me one of the guns and pointed at Vito. I directed it at his head. She picked up the knife and stepped closer to the other.

"I haven't come close to making my point." Her tone was scarier than the gun cradled in her hand. She flicked the knife open. The gun went to the back of Vito's neck, forcing him to press his face into the wall. The knife went between his legs much higher than he wanted it. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes." His voice was strained. "Where's your car?" "On the street." Lauren inched the knife higher. "Behind you. The blue Cadillac," he rushed to clarify.

"Good. Now walk over there," She said. "And move carefully. Wouldn't want to lose anything." Vito did as he was told. Each footstep was stilted.

"You too," I said to the other. He didn't move. "Move your ass." He shuffled with his head down. Probably just happy there wasn't a knife to his balls.

"Open the trunk, babe." Lauren had her hands rather full.

I squinted in the dim light at the piece of plastic until I figured out which button did what I wanted. The trunk popped open.

"Get in," She said. I laughed. "We'll never fit in there." Vito's attempt to sway her was useless. "Sure you will. You'll just have to spoon," I said. Vito almost looked relieved when the knife was removed from his genitals so he could get in. Almost.

"Not you." Lauren stopped him before he climbed in. "How did you find us?" "It wasn't hard." He shrugged. Not smart. "How did you find us?" she asked again. "We looked." Lauren was livid, but in a cool, deadly sort of way. She traced the tip of the knife down Vito's cheek. He sucked in a mouthful of air and held it. The knife caressed his throat to his collarbone. Lauren smiled. She twisted her wrist so the blade was at the neck of his shirt. Slowly, very slowly, she slit his shirt open.

"You want to talk?"

He didn't move, didn't breathe. I think he finally got that she was serious.

Lauren started tracing down his chest again. This time pressing hard enough that the blade made a scraping noise on his skin. Every few inches she dug a little deeper so a bead of blood would emerge from his chest. It was freaky. I would have thought her cruel except for the eyes. This was killing her. She wasn't going to last long. As she approached the waistband of his slacks, he started to grind his teeth.

"You want to tell us now?" I asked Vito. Lauren seemed relieved to have me take over.

He glanced up from the knife on his beer belly. His entire face had gone slack.

"How did you find us?" She asked.

"We got a tip," Vito gasped. "A pit boss at one of the casinos on the Strip. Don't know who. This guy told one of our contacts. I don't know anything else."

"Thank you. Now get in the trunk."

Reluctantly, Vito climbed in with his buddy. Lauren slammed the trunk shut on their surprised faces. Methodically, she picked up the guns, wiped off any fingerprints with the bottom on her T-shirt, and tossed them into the front seat. She repeated the process with the knife. She took the keys from me and tossed them in a nearby trashcan.

"Are you okay?" Her hand trembled when I brushed my fingertips over it.

Lauren nodded curtly. "Are you?" "Yeah. Just a little beat up." "All right. Good." She was fighting to keep her composure. I could tell.

* * *

At the hotel, I shed my clothes, grabbed clean ones, and went into the bathroom. I checked out my face in the mirror. One side was covered in scratches from the small peaks of cement. I was glad Lauren held a knife to that dude's junk. My shirt was a bitch to get off because my shoulders and ribs were hurting pretty bad. Other than that, I was fine. It was Lauren I was worried about. She hadn't looked at me or talked to me the whole way back.

The steam and hot water felt damn good. As soon as I was under the spray, the tension in my back eased up a bit. My face stung a little, but if that was the worst of my problems then I was doing pretty well.

As I walked out of the bathroom in my thong and T-shirt, I looked around for her. She wasn't there. Not in her room either.

"Lauren?" I tried not to panic. "I'm right here," came her voice from the couch. "Hey." I crossed the room in a few long strides to kneel in front of her. She slowly sat up. Dark hair fell forward covering her face. I reached up and carefully brushed it back. There were tear tracks on her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly.

She didn't seem to hear me. "I wanted to hurt them." Another tear fell. "When I saw that guy pushing you into the wall, I wanted to kill him."

"I wanted to kill Christopher when this happened." I brushed my thumb over the fading mark beneath her eye.

"Why?" "I don't like seeing you hurt." I'd thought that was obvious. "But you hate me," Lauren said. Seemingly unaware, she slid her hands over mine. Her fingers drew patterns on my palms and wrists. My hands started to tremble.

"I've tried that, but I'm no good at follow through." My attempt at humor was lost when my voice shook.

"I don't hate you either." She wouldn't look at me.

"Good, I was real worried." I tilted her chin up so I could see her eyes.

"Shut up," she said when she saw that I was teasing her. We grinned at each other like idiots. "Does it hurt?" Her warm fingers traced over the scratches on my face. My spine started to tingle, the sensation rolling languidly down my back and into my limbs.

"Not really." I couldn't even feel the pain anymore. The more she touched me, the less I felt anything except really good.

"Take off your shirt so I can see."

I let go of her hands. "I don't think I should." Normally, taking off my shirt wouldn't have been a problem. Lauren had bandaged me up a million times.

"Why not?"

"Because I can't be objective anymore." Either one of us naked equated to one thing for me now.

"So?" Her eyes went from brown to gray. The change was instantaneous.

I prayed that I was reading the invitation correctly and kissed her. Lauren groaned and pulled me into her. We were in serious trouble.

"Lauren wait, I think we need to talk, I…" I didn't get to finish the sentence, we heard a knock on our door, then someone playing with the lock. Lauren grabbed one of her guns, I grabbed my dagger and stared at the door.

Kenzi stomped in the room followed by Dyson. "Holy shit, Kenz!"

"Whoa! Put that down tiger!" Her eyes wide open at Lauren.

"How did you open the door?" I was astonished. " I've got my tricks, credit card baby!"

"I was starting to think you were dead," Dyson said, ignoring Kenzi.

"Not yet." " When did you get back?"

"Thirty minutes ago." He finally looked at me. "Shit. What happened to your face?"

"Long story." I didn't elaborate.

"Go ahead" he ordered.

Lauren and I took turns updating Dyson on everything, not before we ordered some forgot to mention the whole hooking up thing.

"So is anyone going to tell me who the hell Vito is?" I pushed Lauren's fork away from my plate for the second time. She kept trying to eat my food when hers was perfectly good. "Stop it. Eat yours."

"I want biscuits and gravy." She stole another bite. "Hey, guys, pay attention," Dyson demanded. "Oh, yeah. Uncle Vito?" I asked again. "I think he worked for Mom. And he was like her distant cousin or something," Dyson mumbled. "You're related to that guy?" "Not really." Lauren wouldn't look at me. "Kind of. But it's like through marriage or something." "Well, maybe he'll help us." If this guy was their uncle or whatever, he would probably be happy to help. "Not likely. I think he works with Christopher now," Dyson said. "What about those guys from last night?" I asked Lauren. "Do you know them?" Yes, I was pissed. "No." She scooted away from me a little. "Okay. I recognized them, it's not like I really know them." I was pretty sure she was lying.

"Vito and Gino," she said.

"What?" Dyson's eyes got real big. "Vito, big guy? Smokes a lot of cigars? And Gino? Fat little fucker with squinty eyes?"

"That's them." I was going to kick some ass. Lauren never mentioned that she knew them. Not that I gave her a chance.

"Shit," muttered Kenzi. " You've got a family like mine!" We all looked at her.

"Just saying…" But she was right, and that worried me.

. "There wasn't time to ask if they were working for my asshole stepfather. Sorry." Lauren's apology was totally insincere. It was obvious she was hidding something and that bothered me to hell.

"Why didn't you tell me you know them back there!?" I shouted

"Guys," Dyson yelled. "I can't take it. No fighting today." When in doubt, he just shouted louder than us.

"Sorry," Lauren said. "Yeah, sorry," I said to my plate. "Now. Did anything fun happen when I was with this?" He pointed to Kenzi, who was painting her nails and eating cheetos at the same time. "You win big or anything?" As usual, Dyson tried to distract us with a new subject as if it were a shiny toy.

"I didn't. Lauren did pretty well." "How much did you win?" He asked her. "No idea. Haven't counted it." She dug into her breakfast with enewed fervor. "Where is it? Let's count it." Kenzi was totally excited. Lauren nodded and pointed to the closet.

"Knock yourself out. I'm going to shower." Lauren abandoned her seat. "You want to help me count it, Bo? It looks like a couple thousand bucks." Only Kenzi could get excited about a couple thousand dollars when she was sitting on thirty-four million. It was the clay chips. Color excited her.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Damn." Dyson was already dipping his hands into the bag. "There are some five hundred dollar chips in here."

"No way." I peered inside. Damn. "Dude, like half of these are five hundred dollar chips. I told you Lauren was good."

We proceeded to stack the chips, first according to denomination, then according to casino. Lauren was pushing twenty grand. Not bad for a couple hours.

"That's a lot for one night, right?" Dyson asked me.

"I'd say so." "She's been before though," he attempted for an explanation. "Once." Beginner's luck didn't go that far. "What?" Dyson looked at me like I was crazy. "You're thinking something weird. I know it."

"I think Lauren has been here more than once. A lot more." There.

"What do you mean?" Dyson rubbed his face and covered his eyes.

"I think she comes here to play poker." Duh, Dyson. Get the picture.

"You think she's some kind of high roller?" The water shut off and we both looked at the closed door.

"Not exactly. She doesn't have the capital." Lauren wasn't the type

"You want to ask her?" He appeared a bit nauseous at the prospect. "No, I want you to." "No way"The door opened before he could answer. "Hey, Lauren." Dyson sounded all guilty. "Hi." So did I.

"You guys are weird." She disappeared into her room and took long enough to get dressed for us to excitedly gesture at each other. I won.

" Ok, so…now they know we're here, it's just a matter of time they show at that door." I sounded nervous, een Kenzi stopped eating, she ran to the door and checked it was closed.

Lauren spoke first " They've only seen Bo and me, we need to make them lose the trail." That sounded like a command. "We're gonna change our hotel, but Bo and I are gonna mess with them a little first. And you guys have to hide." All of us nodded.

"Lauren, I don't like this." Dyson said. " It's not like we have a choice." Lauren cut him.


	10. Guns and heels

**Hi guys! How's your weekend going? Hope I can entertain you for a bit! Thanks for reading and for your awesome reviews! C.**

No way. There was no way I was wearing that. I looked at the box where Kenzi had put our costumes. That girl could do anything, she bought those, she made us fake IDs, fuck, she even stole two cars. They weren't fancy cars, just some random ones to go unnoticed. There was only one inconvenient, there was no way I was wearing that blonde wig.

"Come on, don't be like that!" Lauren laughed at me. " I like blondes!" She winked.

If looks could kill she would be dead by now. I put it on, it was itchy, I looked like a whore, I was dressed like a stripper, high heels, and a black dress that could be considered a bikini. She looked better than me, no news, she was wearing a cap, Dyson's aviators and was dressed like a tourist. It wouldn't have been a good costume if it wasn't so different from her always elegant look.

Kenzi and Dyson left the hotel first in one of the stolen cars, one hour after we were driving our real car, Kenzi had parked the other stolen car near a road station so we could switch. A dark sedan started following us after half a block. We let them. Lauren made a couple half-assed attempts to lose the tail. The dark sedan dropped away and was replaced by a slightly different sedan.

These dudes needed to broaden their taste in cars. Fucking boring.

Dyson texted twenty minutes later. They've arrived to the hotel. No one seemed to be following them.

Lauren increased the speed and headed to the gas station, she managed to lose the tail for some minutes, that gave us enough time to switch cars and go unnoticed. I had a very bad time running to the car with that boots, hell they were killing me.

"Where does Christopher get these tools from?"

Lauren shrugged. I guess we weren't talking about it. "You know, you look pretty hot dressed like that." She had to be joking, I looked at her in disbelief but she was already pulling the car out of the road.

"Yeah, it's a bit weird, you know? Kind of sexy though." Her smile grew until it reached her eyes. She went to the back seats of the car, I looked out of the windows, I didn't give a fuck if someone saw us, but didn't want those guys to have free porn.

Her underwear were soaked through already. I moved it aside so I could push two fingers inside her.

"Oh, fuck." Lauren released my nipple long enough to whimper. Then she moved to the other one. Hot muscles sucked on my fingers, pulling me in. "Harder," she said. So I used my body to thrust into her. I braced my other hand to keep up the motion.

She let up on my nipples so she could kiss me. She kept her mouth closed. Made me work to get her to open up. I licked her lip, just a little. Kissed her soft and slow to balance the way I was fucking her.

Lauren's fingernails dug into the bare skin of my back, urging me on, bordering on pain. When she neared climax those nails dragged down, drawing blood, I was sure of it.

She was gonna come soon. Hell, I was gonna come soon. And she wasn't even touching me. Yet.

Lauren kept one hand on my ass, kneading, squeezing. Her other went between my legs. She was moaning into my mouth. Or was I? Her fingers slid around my clit. Every time I thrust into her, her fingers massaged me.

"Inside," I whispered. "Please, Lauren." "More, I want more," was all she said.

I added a third finger. She groaned and lifted her hips. I leaned into her, kissing her hard now. I was so fucking wet, but still she wasn't inside me. I needed to come so bad. I was shaking now. So was she.

"Please,Lauren" I asked again. She still ignored me. Just grabbed my ass harder. I pulled out of her, thrust back in. And again. And again. "I'm gonna come," she screamed, but it was too late. She was already coming. Deep spasms wracked her body, making her curl up into me. I drove into her one last time, milking it until the last second. That was when she went inside me. "Oh, fuck." I wasn't even sure I said it out loud. She didn't respond. Just edged my legs apart and started fucking me fast and deep. I might have said something. I might have just groaned. Lauren kissed my neck, sucked on it. I sobbed.

"You can come now," she said. My stomach got tight and I spent into her hand. She slid forward on the counter. Tightened her legs around me. Moved her hand from my ass to my back to keep me from falling. I leaned into her, trying to breathe.

"You're so beautiful," I whispered into her hair. She laughed softly.

"We should probably go."

* * *

"Bobo!" Kenzi shouted, Dyson turned to face us. " I was sick worried here! What the hell took you so long?"

"They wouldn't stop following us, don't want them to find out about the cars, do we?" Lauren said.

" You drive like a grandma" Dyson tease. " I don't." Dyson started tickling her. "Stop!" She giggled, they were almos ton the floor.

Kenzi was looking at me the whole time, examining me, it was making me nervous, she stood up and came closer, her eyes where on my neck. " Were those guys following you some kind of vampires?" "What?" I didn't get it at first, I touch my neck and I blushed. Thank god she didn't said it too loud so Dyson couldn't hear it. She was smiling ear to ear.

"Ok guys, we need a plan." Lauren was back to her normal state. All of us looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "What?"

"You are the brain." Dyson said. " You mean I'm the only one with one." She replied.

" You're the only one who thinks about boring tthings while having millions of dollars in our hands." Kenzi stuck her tongue at her.

"Yeah..well, I think we should try and change some more bars, and then get the fuck out of here."

"What do we do with the rest of them?" Dyson inquired.

"Maybe we could put them on one of those safe deposit boxes at a bank." I tried.

Kenzi frowned. "Haven't you seen any movies?" I was completely lost.

"They are only wannabe gagnsters, what could they do?" I looked at Lauren questioningly. I didnt like at all what I got back, her look was worried, and guilty.

"I think we should keep it buried, we have millions already, there's no need to worry for now." She said.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kenzi yelled. " There is no way you're gonna leave all that gold abandoned!"

"Any better ideas?" "Hell, yes!" We all looked at her. " You go, I stay, call the rest of the gang and we take it to a safer place, they don't know us, there is no way they would be following us, and we'll meet somewhere on, say, a couple of months or something." That wasn't such a bad idea, this girl could be a fucking genius sometime. We all nodded, it seemed it was our best option.

"I still don't like the idea of all of you in danger because of us." Lauren replied, not too satisfied.

"We're family, aren't us? Besides, they would be really pissed , I was when I thought you went away without me!" She had a point.

"There's something more…" Dyson spoke, " Only Kenzi can come back to that 'shop' and change the money, its too risky for the rest of us." Kenzi agreed, he looked at her. " I'll take you there, you girls pack everything and load the other car."

I didn't like the idea of Kenzi going there on her own. "Where are we going then?" I asked, looking at the others.

"Mexico."

"You know they're not cops, right? They can follow us there." Dyson argued.

"Only to catch a plane to somewhere else, it will give us time to lose them" She looked like she had a plan, and that was enough for us, at least it was at that moment.

* * *

We keept going with our plan, Dyson and Kenzi went out with four bars, that should be more than enough. The waiting felt like an eternity, Lauren and I were too nervous to talk, it was Kenzi, and any of us would give all the gold in this world to protect her.

Hour and a half later Dyson called, they were already outside the hotel, thank god they where fine. We grabbed all our things and placed them in the trunk of the car.

"Kenzi…we need to go now, are you gonna be ok?" I was so not ready for this.

"Yeah, sure, Dy gave me more money than I've ever seen and booked the fanciest hotel you could dream about, I'll be fine. Tamsin and Hale will be here soon. But you have to miss me, ok?" I smiled at her, tears about to falldown my cheeks.

"I always do." "You got the dagger?" I nodded. "Keep safe Bobo." She kiss my cheek and pulled me in a hug, god, this girl was stronger than she seemed.

"Bye." I whispered.

" It's not bye, it's see you soon." She winked, and I hoped it was, I begged it was.

* * *

We'd been driving the stolen car for the whole day now, I didn't know where we were anymore, Dyson was driving, Lauren had fallen asleep in the back. Dyson took a little path that headed to a roadside motel.

" Lauren, wake up." I whispered, it wasn't working, I tried a bit louder " Lauren!" That was the fourth time, she woke up abruptly, she grabbed her gun almost unconsciously. " Whoa! That won't be necessary cowgirl!" She looked at me pissed, she wasn't a morning person, well, night person for that matter.

As son as we went into the roon Dyson crushed on a little couch.

"All I want is to take a hot shower with you and climb in bed." Iwhispered in Lauren's ear.

"That sounds amazing." She closed her eyes and leaned closer to me. "Maybe we should tell him just so we can sleep together."

"I'd pretty much give my life at this point to have you in a bed." I was so serious. Naked Lauren was worth dying for.

"Well, don't. If you're dead, I'll be bored out of my mind."

"Glad to know you care." I smiled at her so she'd know I was playing, kind of.

She turned away and started undressing, my eyes widened, I sti on one of the beds and enjoyed the show. When she was only in her underwear she jumped on the other med, not even looking at me. How the fuck she wanted me to sleep now? I stripped my clothes off as quickly as I could and lay near her, she wasn't facing me. I hug her and we spooned, it took me what felt like hours to fall asleep.

I woke up alone, there was a note in the pillow, it was Lauren's handwritting, that made me smile. Really? Oh god, what was this woman doing to me? _We went for breakfast, Dyson here was starving, be back soon! _" I'm gonna kill them!" I was starving too, it wasn't fair! I had a quick shower and dressed with some shorts and one of Lauren's t-shirts. I was already leaving when the roon phone rang.

"Hello."

"Ms. Dennis?" a slightly high, but decidedly masculine voice asked.

"Yes?" "This is Ricky. I'm the receptionist." He spoke rapidly. "Is everything alright?" I said. "I don't think so. I'm watching one of the monitors for the garage." It wasn't just rushed I decided, it sounded like fear in his voice. "Your friends are in trouble, I think."

"What do you mean?" Now I didn't sound much better than him.

"There is a car, a sedan, two men just got out. I think they have guns, but I can't tell. It looks like they're trying to force your friends into their car."

"Fuck. Can you stop them?"

"How?" Damn. Good question. "Do you want me to call the police?"

"No." I responded by instinct then thought about it. And then I thought about why my instinct was to say no to the cops. "I'm coming down. If they leave the garage before I get there, then call the cops." I didn't wait for a response. I just slammed the pone down, grabbed the duffle bag and ran.

After thirty seconds, I was sweating. Where the fuck were they?

Then it was there, a dark sedan with a thick-necked dude behind the wheel. Next to him, Vito was scanning the garage as they drove toward the exit. The first time he looked, his gaze slid right past me. The second time he looked it clicked. He smacked the guy driving and pointed. They sped up real fast. He probably thought I was going to follow them. Nope, I was way dumber than that.

I punched the gas and aimed right for him. It was hard to steer with the gun in my hand. First gear, second, third, and the engine screamed at me. Vito raised his hand and squeezed off a single shot that seemed unbelievably loud. When I slammed into their car, fuck. Bone- jarring? Hell, no. Try enough impact to make my sides feel like they were splitting open and shredding any remaining bone, flesh, muscle I had left. Try my headache reaching levels I'd only imagined before that fucker Vito.

All forward motion stopped as the driver's side of the sedan smashed into a cement pillar. The grill of the rental implanted into the opposite fender. They were trapped and they were fucking mine.

I got out of the car with my hand already wrapped around Dyson's gun and pointed it at the driver. I yanked my gun out of its holster and aimed it at Vito's head. At that point, I had few qualms about pulling the trigger.

"Move," I screamed.

They did. Everyone. Dyson grabbed Lauren and hauled her out of the backseat. His door opened fine. Vito trying to muscle his door open, but that so wasn't happening. There was a car rammed into the side of it. Dumbass. Same with the guy behind the wheel. His door was glued to a cement post. They were lucky I hadn't been going faster.

"Holy shit," Dyson nearly whispered. Then he screamed, "Are you fuckin' crazy?" He was only a couple feet away so his voice was deafening.

"Yes," I told him without taking my eyes off their captor.

Vito realized his door wasn't going to magically open. He unloaded a couple rounds into the already cracked windshield then kicked it releasing a shower of glass on himself. Not too smart. He and his buddy started to climb out.

"Guys. Get in the fuckin' car." I yelled to them. It took a second for them to understand. Finally, Dyson started pushing Lauren toward the car. Slowly. Vito and his buddy were scrambling over the hood of their car when I shouted for them to stop. They paused.

"Why?" Vito asked. "You won't shoot us."

"You sure about that?" Maybe it was my tone or the way I was grinning, but he actually stopped moving. Just stood there on the hood of his car. The twins had also stopped. They were watching me, studying me. I turned to tell them to get in the car. What I saw made me freeze, a bright red handprint across Lauren's cheek. Immediately, I spun back to face Vito.

"Is there a problem?" Vito sort of chuckled. "Which one of you was stupid enough to touch her?" "That was Gino." Vito gave a nod to the guy next to him.

Gino laughed. That really pissed me off. I dropped the gun in my right hand a few inches and squeezed the trigger. I was close enough that I couldn't miss. The kick from the gun forced me to take a step back. Probably should have taken it to a range to get a feel for it.

Gino screamed and fell clutching his knee.

"Was that really necessary?" Vito asked like he was trying to be cool. Judging by the amount of sweat on his face, it wasn't working.

"I'm not in the mood to fuck around."

Vito took another step closer. "Let's talk. Work this out." His hands were in the air like a surrender. Screw that.

"How did you find us?"

" Your fucking bag, I put a beeper on it, it was child's play." He laughed and took a step closer.

"You know?" I moved both guns so one was pointed at his head, the other at his body. "I don't like you. So just shut the fuck up and don't come any closer."

"Oh, Bo." Vito sighed like I was a recalcitrant toddler. But I wasn't. I was a recalcitrant adult. Much worse. At least he wasn't walking forward anymore. Next to him, Dino screamed some more.

"What part of shut the fuck up did you not get?" More screaming. "And make him shut up too," I said as if Vito could make it happen.

"You just shot him in the knee. That's pretty painful," Vito said. Damn, he was annoying. Condescending too.

"Shut up, Vito." Lauren had picked her gun from our car and was pointing at him.

"That's my girl." He sounded like he meant it. "You really haven't changed have you?"

"Please shut up?"

"Just like when you were little," Vito continued, leaving no question about who was in charge of the situation, guns or not. "You know, once when you were just a tiny thing you pulled a stunt exactly like that. Your grandfather slapped Dyson and told him he was a bastard." Vito laughed at his own story. Their grandfather sounded like a douche bag to me. "You pulled Dyson away and stepped in front of him. Exactly like that," he repeated. "It was classic." As he spoke, Lauren started to straighten. Her shoulders squared and her jaw started to clench. "You couldn't have been older than six. It was right before your mother ran away," he mused. "She wanted to keep you safe, kid. Elizabeth always was naive."

"Vito. Stop. Fucking. Talking." Lauren raised the gun as if she suddenly meant it. "You don't know shit."

"Really, honey? I think I do." Vito smiled. I believed him. "She came back into the fold, you know? Couldn't keep away. You'll come back too." What the fuck was he talking about?

"No, she didn't," Lauren screamed. "And I'm never going back." I half expected her to stomp her foot.

"What do you think you're doing right now? That gun feels good doesn't it?" His voice was low, taunting, like tainted honey.

"Shut up. Just shut up." Her gun trembled.

"You have a choice, kiddo. Come home now. We'll protect you. Give you everything you ever wanted." Stern tone now, very fatherly. "If you don't, you'll end up just like your mother."

Lauren let go of the gun. The sound of it dropping echoed through the cement surrounding us. "It was an accident. He told us it was an accident."

"You believed Christopher?" Vito asked incredulously. "You're smarter than that."

Lauren looked like she was going to cry. I was so totally lost. What the fuck was going on?

Vito looked like he was waiting for her to rush back into his arms. I could have just walked away. No one would have stopped me.

Instead, I raised my gun again and pointed it at Vito's head.. I put my other arm around Lauren's waist and steered her toward Dyson. He put her in the backseat. I picked up the gun Lauren had dropped and shoved it in my holster.

"We'll never stop looking, Lauren." Vito said right before her door slammed shut.

"You'll stop right fucking now," I said as I backed toward the car.

"Do you even know what we're talking about?" Back to the pissing contest.

Nope. "I know as much as I need to." He was right though. I didn't know anything about them. Not like I thought I did. And not knowing was starting to worry me.

Behind me, Dyson started the car.

"They've already marked you as one of us," Vito said as if I knew what the hell he was talking about. "That necklace was Elizabeth's, wasn't it?"

"Jealous?" I guessed.

Vito laughed. "You should ask them where they came from. What it is that they are dragging you into."

I went around the front to get in the passenger side. My gaze never left Vito's face. "I already know more about them than you ever will."

"I doubt that." I got in the car. Dyson gunned it out of there. Vito watched us drive away without moving.

A car drive in front of us, it was gonna hit us, Dyson reacted as fast as he could, he managed to stopped the car before it hit the other, another sedan. Fuck.

"Girls, are you alright?" We nodded, all of us grabbed our guns, we went out of the car, it was a way better than wait there to be murdered.

A guy tried to grab my gun, I fight it, I managed to knock him with the handle of my gun, I disarmed him. Behind me, Dyson and Vito were already grappling like little boys in a school fight. Where was Lauren?

"Fuck. He's got her." Dyson screamed.

"Who?"

"Tommy." I crossed the pool of light to where I'd last seen her. Nothing. I turned back to Dyson.

The gun was back in his hand. "Where the hell are they? If he touched my sister, I'll fuckin' kill him."

"But, Dyson." a smooth voice behind us intoned. "She's so pretty."

We both spun to face him. Lauren was standing in front of Tommy, pressed back into him by a long knife held flat against her belly. He had a gun to her temple and a feral grin plastered on his face. Something wasn't right with that man.

"Let her go," I said. The gun gripped in my hand hung like dead weight at my side because that's what it was. Useless. Dead weight.

"Why?" Tommy used the barrel of his gun to pull her hair back. "I think she likes me." He kissed the exposed skin on her neck. Right behind her ear.

That was my fucking spot to kiss her. Hot, sick anger rolled through me. The look on her face made me stay still. She was ice. Not a muscle moving. Her eyes gave away all the pain and fear, but to someone who couldn't read her, nothing. Tommy couldn't read her.

"Just let her go, Tommy." Dyson was trembling. "Make this easier on everyone."

"Drop your guns," Tommy said.

"No." When faced with intelligence and anger, the anger won. I wasn't doing a damn thing he wanted.

"Okay, you can just watch if you want." Tommy lowered the knife from her stomach. "She wants me, you know?" He used the blade to lift her skirt and traced it along her thigh. "They say I have a way with women."

I was going to vomit.

"Funny." Dyson managed to stop shaking. "I've always heard you had a way with men." He shrugged. "Or they have a way with you."

"Shut up."

"They always said you were a faggot." What the hell was Dyson doing? "Only put up with you because they had to. Fuckin' pansy." Since when did he spew shit like that?

"You want to see how much man I am?" Tommy raised the knife another inch. The tip dug into Lauren's flesh. A stream of blood trailed down her thigh. I wanted to kill him. I was going to kill him.

"Man enough to fuck a girl?" Dyson laughed. "Seriously, dude. Lauren can do that,I'm sure she's a way lot better than you on it!"

"I am."

"Shut up, bitch." Tommy pressed the gun into her skull harder. "You don't have the balls to kill someone though, do you, Tommy?"

"That's not true," he spat at Dyson.

"Really? I don't think you have it in you." Dyson let his gun fall. "You afraid of something?" He held up his hands, a silent offering.

Tommy took it. "I'm not afraid." He moved the gun from Lauren's temple to point at Ryan.

It was instantaneous. Lauren twisted Tommy's wrist away with both hands and dove for the ground. Dyson hit the dirt as Tommy aimed at him. I raised my gun and fired.

Three bodies hit the ground. Lauren, Dyson and Tommy. I remained standing, my gun pointed at air.

Dyson picked himself up, his shirtsleeve turning crimson. Lauren disentangled herself from Tommy's dead weight. I dropped my gun. They hit me running. Lauren threw her arms around my neck. I wasn't even thinking when I kissed her. I just needed her, real and alive, consuming me. She kissed me back, pulling me into her. Tears ran down her cheeks, wetting mine. Dyson, with his arms thrown around us, didn't notice. Right away.

"What the fuck?!"

**Let me know what you think :)**


	11. Tequila and confessions

**Hey there! I'm here again. I wanted to say that I update this often thanks to all of you, you encourage me to keep working, you're awesome! Hope you like it!. C.**

Lauren and I broke apart.

"No, no, no."

"Dyson, it's ok." She said.

"No, no, it's not. What the fuck?" he yelled. "You and...And you.

No, no, no, no." "Dyson. Listen to us," Lauren tried. "She's my sister," he screamed at me. "My sister." "I know." He turned to Lauren. "And...and she's my best friend." "We're sorry," Lauren told him. "We wanted to tell you. We just..."

She shrugged. "Couldn't" I finished.

"Great, now you finosh each other's sentences?"

"No," Lauren and I shouted. That was unfortunate timing. "Isn't that just fucking adorable?" Dyson retrieved his gun. Uh-oh. "Put the gun away," Lauren demanded. He did. "You think I'm going to shoot either of you?" He laughed without a trace of humor. "I can't. You're my best friend and my sister." "Let's just talk," I suggested. "No," Dyson screamed. "How could you?" He waved his arms around dramatically. "And how could you not tell me?"

"We were afraid," Lauren said.

"You should be." He pointed at us and took a step forward. "Throwing away everything we've got just so you could get fucking laid?"

"Stop it." She held up a hand. "Please. You don't understand. We're not just fucking."

That made him stop. "You what?"

"We're not. And we're not trying to hurt you," I said. I couldn't bring myself to say I loved her. That would just be too pathetic.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have fucked my sister." Dyson nodded in her direction.

"I'm not fucking your sister." I let go of Lauren to step closer to Dyson. "And show her some respect."

"You show her some respect." Dyson got close enough so our faces were almost touching. "Oh, wait, you don't respect women do you?" He shoved me back with a shot to my chest.

"Coming from you, that's real nice." I stepped closer then pushed him back a step.

"Hey." Lauren stepped between us. "Enough."

"How you going to get out of this one, Bo?" Dyson peered around Lauren to taunt me. "Cheat on her, stop answering her phone calls, or maybe you could just be an asshole until she dumps you. That seems effective."

"Dyson. Shut up. She's different, okay?" I stopped pressing against Lauren to get to Dyson. "She makes me different."

"What?" Lauren turned away from him to gaze at me. "What the hell does that mean?" He wanted to know too. "It means I don't feel..." I didn't know what I felt. "Trapped. I feel I want to be around her all the time, you know?" I acted like I was telling Dyson, but right then I didn't give a shit what he thought.

"Babe." Lauren's eyes almost in tears..

I did what I knew she wanted. I kissed her. "Well, that's just fuckin' great," Dyson scoffed. "Stop. You're making me want to hurl."

Lauren pulled away with a smirk on her lips. Tease.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you first, but I'm not sorry it happened."

"I'm sorry too." Lauren reached out and petted Dyson's hair.

"Yeah, well." He studied the ground, then returned his gaze to my face. "You fuck up, I'll kill you." I didn't believe him for a second. "Same with you." He pointed at Lauren. We both nodded.

"Sure you will." She pulled him in for a hug. "Now can I look at your arm? You're bleeding all over the place."

"It hurts really bad." There was the Dyson I knew. Lauren released him so I yanked him closer to hug him. He let me.

"What happened to your arm?" I asked once Dyson let go of me.

"I think Tommy shot me."

"Fuck. Why didn't you tell us?" I pushed up his sleeve, and sure enough, there was a deep streak across his bicep. The bullet hadn't penetrated, just grazed him. Still, it couldn't feel good.

"Dunno." He closed his eyes and turned away.

"I think there's a fist aif kit in the trunk, go get it, the bullet only grazed his arm, I can give him stiches." I did as I was ordered, I wanted to hurl. I didn't want to watch, but couldn't stop myself from doing it. I couldn't believe how Lauren could do it, it looked like a profesional work.

* * *

We were crossing the Mexican border by mid morning, just college students looking for summer fun. Nothing out of the ordinary.

By then, we should have figured out how to tell if we were being followed. Too bad none of us thought to check.

It was fucking hot. Like dripping sweat, eyes watering, dry mouth, burning hot. We didn't have any more water, just a couple Mountain Dews, one of which I was drinking. The warm carbonation was a surprising reprieve from the syrupy sweetness working its way down my throat.

We had the windows down, of course, and the stereo bumpin' Mexican rap at a deafening volume. I couldn't understand most of it, except I caught the words dirty and rich, and I was pretty sure we qualified. In the backseat, Dyson was sprawled on the sticky leather wearing only his boxers with his feet out the window. His sunglasses had slid far enough down his face to show that he was totally crashed. Lauren took that as an invitation.

She leaned close enough to be heard over the stereo. "Does he still sleep like when he was little?" Her fingertip traced along the edge of my sweat-soaked pants.

"Huh?" I brushed her hand away and studied the shimmering road. "Don't touch me. I'm gross."

"When he was a kid, it was impossible to wake him up." Her fingers moved over my thigh again.

"So?" I picked up her wrist and set her hand in her own lap. It was already too hot and I didn't have any more clothes to take off. Her skin felt like it was burning mine. Not good.

"Just wondering." She pushed my ribbed tank top up and licked the sweat from around my belly button.

"Stop it."

The tank top was lifted high enough to expose my nipples to the hot wind swirling through the car. Lauren sucked one into her mouth, not hard, just playing with it, just fucking with me.

"Babe," I said.

"I'm trying to help you cool off." She captured my other nipple between her fingertips.

Automatically, my hips jerked. "Really, really not working." I forced myself to concentrate on driving.

"Oh, sorry." She twisted my nipple. My spine started to tingle. "I mean, I'm trying to relax you."

"You've got to be kidding." My eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. Dyson hadn't moved. "What if he wakes up?"

"That would suck." Lauren stopped playing with my nipples. I started breathing again, not sure if I was happy that she was giving me a reprieve. She jacked up the stereo. I didn't know it could go any higher. Turned out that was good though because as soon as I looked back at the road, she reached over, grabbed my cunt, and squeezed enough to make me groan.

Lauren laughed and said something I couldn't hear. She started massaging me through the damp cotton, finding that spot at the base of my clit that felt so fucking good.

I tilted my hips forward without meaning to. I just wanted to come so bad, didn't want her to stop. The girl was evil. She was just watching the road and smiling.

Through gritted teeth, I murmured, "Harder. Please, babe. Do it harder." She couldn't hear me so I placed my hand over hers and pressed her fingers into my pulsing flesh. The rough material of my underwear scraped against my clit bringing me that much closer to release. My head started to swim, and I didn't think it was from the heat. Fuck, I came hard on her hand.

"You bitch," I murmured. She started laughing. The stereo drowned out both of us.

* * *

It was a town full of retired Americans, windsurfers, and caravans of dune buggies. Not really my scene. We all had one thing in common though. Booze.

"So this is just temporary, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." She graced me with a backward glance and the hint of a smile. "Just until we figure out where we're going and find a plane to take us there." Her look with that unmistakeable worried look she carried a lot lately. I knew something was wrong, well, apart from the obvious, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Hawaii." Dyson said, I could tell he was excited. Lauren shook her head, that worried look again. " I was thinking about Europe."

"What? Why?" Dyson argued.

"You know there are beaches and a lot of booze in Europe, don't you?" His smiled grew again.

Dyson wanted to go to the beach, I wanted to talk to Lauren, so I told him to go ahead, that we'd follow.

"Can we finally talk, please?" Lauren nodded, but she didn't seem she wsa gonna start, so I did. " What was Vito talking about? You, with them?"

"I told you, there was a lot you didn't know."

"That doesn't really help at all, you know?" I was impatient now, it was true, I didn't know shit about it, but still I was there.

"They are not good people Bo, I'm not either." That wasn't enough "What's that supossed to mean? And how the hell do you play pocker like that?" Lauren eyes widened, she was almost laughing at me at that moment. I didn't like that, I felt she was fooling with me.

"I like pocker! That's not a felony, is it?" Ok, now I was angry. " I think I have the right to know what I'm getting myself into it!"

"You don't get it, I didn't want you here!" It hurt, it fucking hurt. She realised what she'd just said. " I know I'm putting you in danger, more than you can imagine." "Well, tell me then!" It sounded more like an order than a request.

"My family is into a lot of shit…" She started. " I think I can see that." "Dyson doesn't know, he probably figures something, but not the whole thing." "Why do you, then? What did Vito mean?"

"I worked for them." "What did you just said?" I couldn't believe it, my eyes widened, anger running through my veins. Why would you do that?"

"That's none of your businnes!" " Of course it is!" We were yelling by now, I felt betrayed, I felt like a fool, and the worst thing was I only wanted to protect her, to take her away from all of this.

Dyson came back and we both shuted up, we didn't look at each other.

Lauren was elected to do the honors of making arrangements for our trip due to her proficiency in Spanish. Dyson went into the cantina to order a drink the size of his head. I was stuck leaning against the car listening to Lauren's conversation that I didn't understand. Seriously, what had been so important at fifteen that made me blow off Spanish classes?

Dyson joined me soon after with the fabled drink. He leaned against the car holding his cup with two hands and drinking carelessly. Soon he had a margarita mustache edged with salt like some toddler stealing sips from his dad's drink.

"You look like an idiot," I told him. "Want some?" He tilted the cup in my direction. "Sure. Why not?" Lauren was already mad at me. Might as well add drinking before noon to the list of reasons why. I tuned back in to Lauren's conversation while we waited. I couldn't really understand more than the numbers she was saying like the weight of our cargo, the number of passengers. Weird. It sounded like she told them there were two passengers with the cargo. Even weirder, it sounded like she wanted two planes going to different locations. That wasn't right.

It hit me when I heard the word Sacramento. We were supposed to go to Europe. Lauren was sending me elsewhere. Far away from them. What the fuck?

I pushed off the car and started toward her. Lauren angled her body away from me and curled protectively around the phone.

"What are you doing?" I whispered angrily.

She leaned her shoulder against the pay phone with her back to me.

"Lauren. What the fuck?" Still no response.

That was when I saw it, the same fucking dark sedan. " Follow me!" I whispered to them, I grabbed Lauren's wrist and ran to the cantina, Dyson followed. We went to the bathrooms and hide. We could hear a lot of noise from the bar, yelling, they guys were asking for us. I was trembling, Lauren glanced at the floor, she didn't want to look at me, but Icould tell she felt guilty. I was scared, she started to cry. Dyson made a gesture to tell us not to make a sound.

A minute passed, it felt like an hour. Then we heard a voice.

"Children, you can come out now, your safe." It was the voice of a old woman, mexican accent. Dyson opened the door just a bit, enough to take a look at the woman, he nodded and opened the door completely.

"Uh..thanks." " It's ok kid, come on girls, I'm inviting you to a beer." Lauren wiped her tears and stood up, I followed her out of the bathroom.

We were sitting at the bar, trying to calm down.

"Excuse me, do you know where we cand find a hotel?" She asked to the old woman who was now at the other side of the bar.

" You can crush here if you like, it's the safest place you'll find, I have some beds upstairs." That looked like a fucking great idea, there was something about that woman that made me feel at home. Dyson looked at us, we nodded.

Dyson excused himself and went upstairs, he was still tired from the blood lost.

"You do realize that you cannot stay with us, right?" Lauren didn't even look at me when she said it.

"Not happening, hotpants." My grip tightened on the steering wheel.

"We are not safe." "I don't follow." I blew her off. "They will continue to follow us. We will always be runnin away." Tears began to quietly stream down her cheeks. "If you really want to save someone then give Dyson some money and let him go." Logic seemed the best course. Even if she was trashed. "They don't want him." "What do you imagine they want then?" she scoffed. "You." Lauren gasped, she already knew that. "And the gold. I don't really get why, but it's you they're after. Me and Dyson are just ways to follow you and the money."

"Fine. You are right." She finally turned to look at me. "So go. Go with Dyson. Take the money." The look in her eyes freaked me out. I'd never seen it before, and I didn't know what it meant.

"It's not that easy and you know it," I said. "We both know I'm on their list now. I killed two of them. When they find me, I'm dead." There. I'd managed to say it without shaking or anything.

"You will be safer without me."

"And you'll be more vulnerable." That was really it. The thing that scared me the most. Leaving her alone was as good as killing her myself.

"No," she responded to what I was actually saying. "I will not sacrifice you."

"Lauren." I reached across to take her hand. "No." She moved farther away. "No." She wouldn't talk to me after that.

I fell asleep after a couple of hours during which Lauren was still careful not to touch me. That hurt. Even in her sleep, she kept her distance. I should have slept in Dyson's bed.

* * *

I woke up next morning feeling like I was in hell, I had a nightmare, that guy Tommy was trying to rape Lauren. I turn in the bed, trying to find her to calm myself, if only she had been there… There was a note instead. Fuck, this was so not happening, I didnt need to read the note to know…she had gone.

_Bo, _

_I'm so sorry, this is breaking my heart, you are so beautiful when you sleep, you give me peace.. _

_I know you deserve an explanation, I worked for them because they said they would help me looking for Nadia, but it couldn't stand it, I wasn't that strong. I know there's no excuse, that's why I'm not letting you get into this shit._

_I have no choice, I have to leave, there is no other way. I need you to take care of Dyson, but you need to take care of yourself first. There is no way you could ever be happy with me around, they won't stop chasing me. Keep all the money, don't go back home, they could find you. Call Kenzi and tell them to go to Europe, then take Dyson there. Please, just be safe. Don't try to find me, that won't do any good to any of us._

_And Bo, thank you for making me feel free again. It was real._

_We'll see each other again, some day. I'm yours._

_ Lauren._

**Yeah, well, sorry... TBC**


	12. Lifeless

**Hi guys! here I am again! This gets a bit angsty I know, sorry about that. Hope you like it anyway! Let me know what you think! Thanks for , well, everything! C.**

I was in tears. Dyson hadn't waken up yet. I needed a cigarrette, I didn't use to smoke, I just felt like it, I couldn't breath properly, I needed to calm down. I ran out of the bar the sun was starting to raise. I took the cigarrette to my mouth.

"You need a lighter?" Vito's voice came from behind me. Fuck… I couldn't deal with him right now. " Where are the siblings, kid?"

"I don't know." My tears were still visible. "They left me here." I was nervous, I didn't want him to find Dyson. I don't know why but he believed me, maybe it was the tears.

"I like you, kid. And I must say you've shown a lot of... potential."

"Potential for what?" I scoffed.

"Just potential. We could make good use of you. Especially now that I'm down two men. Tommy was very sick, but he had his uses. I don't think you are quite as twisted, but who knows? With some training, you could prove indispensable."

"Thanks, but I'm cool." I stood up. "Wait." "Why?" "You haven't even listened to me."

"Whatever you're selling, I don't want it. Thanks."

"We'll leave you alone if you listen to me." That made me hesitate.

"Five minutes," he said. "Give me five minutes. If you don't want to hear anymore then I'll disappear."

"For real?" I could take five minutes of bullshit to get them off our backs. Not that I believed him. It was too easy. At least I would know his game plan though.

"For real," he assured me. The phrase sounded idiotic coming from him.

"Go." Pointedly, I checked the time on my phone .

"The work is lucrative." "And immoral."

"See the world." "Cut the bullshit. What do you really want?" "You on our side." He sipped some more scotch. "Not happening." "Why not? Lauren couldn't handle it. Well..." He waved his hand like it was nothing. "She thought she couldn't handle it. But with you, we could get her back. You'd make a great team."

I wanted to ask what he meant, but I already knew. My breath suddenly escaped me, evacuated my chest, trying to abandon a dying body.

Abruptly, I was back in that parking garage in Vegas.

_"You'll come back too," _he'd said, but I didn't get the meaning at the time.

Her response was even worse. _"I'm never going back."_

I couldn't really swallow and my vision wavered. With a trembling hand, I raised my drink to my lips. The burn of the alcohol didn't help.

"What couldn't Lauren handle?" I asked though I didn't want to hear it.

"Working for us. You know she got sick of it after only a few months." That didn't give me new information. Another wave of the hand. "If we had you on our side, though, she would be able to see. Come back to the family."

" There's no way I'll join you." " Is that your last word?" "I nodded,I wasn't looking at him anymore, all I could think about was Lauren, tears about to come back to my eyes.

He left a piece of paper with a pone number written on it in my hand and turned away.

I went back to the room.

"Dyson…wake up!" I put my hand on his arm, he shaked it. "Dyson, please.."I didn't know how to tell him. "Lauren's gone"

"What? Where is she? Did they take her? When did they come?" " "Shh..Dyson, listen, she left us a note, she left by herself…"

"What the hell? That's not posible!" I handed him the note, her hands were trembling. "Bullshit! This…this is not happening, Bo we need to find her."

"I know, Dyson, I know, but she doesn't want to be found."

"You're saying we let her go?" " Of course not!" That pissed me off. " I'm just saying we need to think this straight."

He was crying, he took a beer bottle and threw it to a wall. I ran near him and hugged him, tears running down our cheeks.

We composed ourselves, went down to the bar and ordered tequila shots. We needed a plan right now.

"What are we gonna do, Bo?" His voice was broken. I took his hand between mine, I knew he wasn't gonna like what I was gonna said.

"I need you to call the guys, tell them to hide the gold at my grandparent's and pick all the money you can and fly to Europe."

"What? Do you want me to leave her behind? Are you out of your mind?" He was so mad at me it almost scared me.

"Dyson, none of us will ever be safe if we keep the gold with us and stay here. I'll go find your sister."

"I won't leave you alone." It wasn't gonna be easy to convince him.

"I need you to be safe, to keep the others safe, I'll take her to you."

"Bo, I can't leave you, if something happens to you I'll never forgive myself." If I couldn't convince him Id have to run away from him, I didn't want to leave a note, I knew how much that hurt.

"Dyson, I'm not gonna discuss this anymore, Kenzi needs us! You need to go." I think naming Kenzi did it, he was always very protective.

"What are you gonna do? How do you plan to find her?" I couldn't let him now my plan.

"I need you to trust me, do you trust me?" " You know I do." "Then let me go."

"Do you love her?" Dyson was looking at my eyes which were full of tears.

"Yes, with all my heart." It broke me. I'd never told her I loved her, and I did, like never before, I needed her to know. I needed to find her.

Dyson was hugging me, I've been crying for several minutes now, I felt I'd never stop.

"Only one thing," Dyson started. " I'm gonna go home to find the rest, then I'll take them somewhere safe and I'll come back for you, and Lauren."

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to come back home Dyson" I argued.

"It's already dangerous for them to be there, they're our family, don't you think that bastards don't know that?" I nodded, he was right, they might need help.

We looked for the nearer airport in a map we found in the bar. We weren't talking too much anymore, we were focus on our plan, well, that's want we wanted to think. Our head was away, with Lauren, tears came to our eyes now and then.

I drove him to the airport, no words spoken in our way.

"Keep the money, keep safe, don't make me regret this, please Bo, I don't know what Iwould do if i lose you both."

"You're not losing any of us, do you hear me?" He nodded. "I won't be needing the money."

"Well, I suposse this is a goodbye." He tried to sound casual.

"Never, it's a see you soon, you already heard Kenzi." He almost laugh at that memory.

I watched him step into the airport, I've never felt so alone in my entire life. I got into the car and cried nonstop.

* * *

I went into a bar, commandeered the darkest table in the darkest corner, and ordered a bottle of tequila. From where I was sitting, I could watch the front door, the back, the bathroom, everything. For the next five hours, I did just that. Watched, drank, watched, drank. Anything but think. Thinking hurt. It was inevitable though.

I had nothing. Nothing that mattered. My, what did I call her, what could I call her? Girlfriend? No, I'd thrown too many of those away. Lover? Sounded like a bad movie. Life? That was it. My life was gone.

I picked my pone and dialed. A sedan appeared near the bar's door.

"Take me to Vito."

He didn't utter a single word as we left and drove south. About a mile down what appeared to be a very long road, he turned into a driveway that was barely visible. It wove down to a house sitting on the edge of the beach. Nice place. The kind Mexican drug cartels have in movies. Creamy white adobe and windows covered by dark Venetian blinds.

"Follow me," the driver said as he parked in front.

He led me inside to a parlor where he left me alone. I didn't sit, just waited with my hands in my pockets as if I were calm. Five minutes went by, ten. Only the desert was visible when I peeked out the windows. A few large cacti and some desert shrubbery hid the low house from the stretches of highway visible through the hills.

After twenty minutes, Vito joined me.

"I knew you'd see it my way." He stood in the doorway, stance similar to mine. Except he actually looked relaxed.

"I didn't have many options," I responded quietly.

That made him smile. Or at least as much as he was capable of smiling.

"And you're going to make me pay for killing two of your guys some way or another." A smile and a nod. "I can't keep running."

"We're not chasing you." Vito shook his head. "Come. Let's get a drink." He turned and walked down a wide hallway toward the back of the house.

"She left me." His step faltered, but he still didn't turn. "That can be remedied, I'm sure." At least someone was confident about that. The back of the house was taken up by one long room. An impressive bar was at one end, the middle looked like a dance floor, and wide doors opened out onto a veranda overlooking the water. Sand came right up to the steps.

"Scotch?" He asked, the bottle already in his hand.

"Sure." It couldn't be helped. I was going to be one of them. The terms had merely changed.

"So what now?" I forced myself to continue the conversation.

"Now we make you her only option. She'll see things our way."

A shiver went down my spine. Vito didn't notice. He wanted to make me as heartless as he was. But he didn't know I'd already lost my heart. Maybe he did. That's why he chose me to get to Lauren.

"How do we do that?" I asked even though I was sure I wouldn't like the answer.

"Money first." Vito locked eyes with me. "Where's the gold?"

"Gone," I answered immediately. "But you'll be able to find it." He didn't ask. He told me. "You find Lauren, then I'll find you the gold, she went away with all of it. And when we find her, you let me have my way with her, I'm gonna make that bitch pay." It was a bluff. I couldn't let them touch her, but I needed their respect.

"This isn't a negotiation."

"I'm not trying to negotiate." I wasn't. "We find her, then you'll have your money," I promised. "How long until you trust me?"

Vito stretched his face into a smile. "I'll find a way to trust you." Scary.

"Yeah, but how long till your boss does?" I smirked. "That might take a while. He never trusted me." Their stepfather might have respected me in some weird way, but he didn't trust me. He didn't trust anyone.

"Which boss are you talking about?" Vito looked like he really thought I was losing it.

"Christopher."

"Christopher?" He seemed to find that amusing. "Christopher isn't my boss."

"Huh?" I didn't get it. "Christopher is bottom rung." He chuckled. "He reports to me." I didn't really know how to respond to that. "He's a glorified babysitter. And a terrible one at that," Vito said.

I stared at him. My mouth might have even been hanging open. "The little bastard lost the kids and the millions we'd given him as a retainer. Never take that much money out of a bank," he instructed me. "It doesn't end well."

Something that sounded like choking came out of my throat. "Didn't you know?" My new mentor looked surprised. "No." I tried to understand what he was telling me. "So all these years he still worked for...?" "He was on the payroll." Vito was careful to not say the name.

That was a habit I would need to learn. "Douche bag," I spat. "Not a fan?" "Hated him from the moment I met him." It was a lie, but it was a comfortable lie, built from years of anger. Anger was good. Anger had the power to override other emotions. "He's worthless."

"Isabeau" Vito put his hand on my shoulder again, briefly. "We agree on so many things."

* * *

_Six Months Later_

"Hey, boss." A well-muscled, very sweaty guy sat across from me at the rickety camp table. "Cool if I sit?"

"I'm not your boss." I told him for the thousandth time. "And I don't think the other guys like you calling me that."

"Right, boss." He tore into the sandwich clutched in his grubby hand. "Don't let them get to you."

"Whatever." I polished off the rest of my own sandwich without tasting much. I really wanted a beer, but apparently, that wasn't on the list of necessary supplies.

"You're second in command." He shrugged. "No one's gonna fuck with you."

"Yeah, do you think it's worthy? All the things I've done?" he was still a kid, I didn't know what he was doing with this guys.

"Can't be in charge if you're dead." But I was already dead, I was alone, I hadn't seen Lauren in one hundred and eighty two days, a month since the last time I heard from Dyson, he was getting impatient by now. At least they were safe, they were hidding in an island in Spain. That thought was the only thing keeping me alive, that and the memory of Lauren's scent. All those thing's I've done to earn their respect haunted me every night.

"Bo, I've got a job for you" Vito pulled me out of my thoughts.

"What is it?" I pretended I was interested.

"This is Vex." Vito indicated a guy next to him. "Oh." I didn't realize we weren't alone. "Bo." I stuck out my hand to Vex. "It's a pleasure." He smiled.

"You will be working together," Vito informed us. I opened my mouth to protest, but Vito cut me off before I could speak. "I remembered your rules." He grinned like it was funny. "You won't kill people, you won't run girls, and you won't do anything involving drugs other than marijuana."

"You have rules?" Vex asked. His voice was soft, dark, but melodic.

I nodded. "Got a problem with that?"

"No." He flashed the canines again. "You have a code. It means you know yourself and your limitations. I like that."

Did he think he was Yoda or something?

"They aren't limitations. I'm perfectly capable." I didn't want this dude to think I had a weak stomach.

"Poor word choice. I only meant..." He glanced at Vito. "Most of Vito's guys will do anything for a scrap. They want respect; they want money. They don't ask questions, and they don't care who dies as long as it isn't them. They lack creativity."

Vito started to laugh. "Creativity?" As soon as I asked, I knew I shouldn't have. "Romance," Vex elaborated. "The beauty of pain. If Vito

wants to know what a man's insides look like, the man needn't die for it. There are other ways of accomplishing our goals."

"You are a creepy motherfucker." I set down my empty mug and went for the door. "Let me know when you find someone sane for me to work with."

"Isabeau." Vito's voice stopped me. Like Dad when he was pissed.

"It's fine, sir." Vex stood and crossed the room to stand next to me. He was a few inches shorter than I was. "I'm not insane. Or if I am then I am nothing like Vito's usual taste. Did you ever meet Tommy?"

Interesting. Vito hadn't told him I'd killed Tommy. "Yes." "He was a sick boy. Too focused on his own disgusting needs."

For the first time, something other than serenity crossed Vex's face. It was pure revulsion. "I don't work the same way he did."

"That doesn't make you any better."

"I can teach you how I work." He actually seemed to want me. As if I'd been the one he'd been looking for. What did that say about me? "Come with me on a job. If you don't like what I do then we will leave it at that."

"Fine. Why do you need me? What are we doing?" He didn't answer.

Five hours later we had a guys tied to a chair, Vex wa trying to making confess the name of his boss, someone who had stolen money from the family.

"He just can't remember." Vex said.

"It's possible. How can we help him with that?"

"The alphabet, I think." Vex seemed pleased with himself at this idea. He crouched back down. "We are going to give you some letters and when one rings a bell, you just let us know, all right?" He spoke real slow like you would to a child.

I was getting a decidedly bad feeling about this.

"First is 'A.'" Vex carved an upside down V at the top of the guy's chest. He cut a triangle below the apex. Below that, three short horizontal lines. Then he joined those lines together. The guy was trying not to scream. Carefully, slowly, Vex slid his knife underneath the "A" he'd cut. When he pulled the skin away, he kept a finger on the small triangle in the center so it would stay in place. He held up the flap of skin for me to see.

I was going to vomit. "Look at that. Real pretty, huh?" "Lovely penmanship," I said. Sometimes it's better to indulge.

"Thank you. My mother always did say I had beautiful handwriting. So did 'A' remind you of anything?"

This dude was out of his skull fuckin' crazy. That night I felt I had lost myself.I couldn't stand it anymore, I needed to find her.

By the time we came back Vex already trusted me, that was good, but I didn't, I made Vito promise me I'd never have to work with him anymore.

"Ok, kid, I've got other plans for you anyway." Vito smiled at me, "you'll be working for a friend of mine. She's got a lot of influence in the family, that will give you a better chance to find your girl and bring her to us, the boss wants her and he's getting impatient." I felt sick everytime one of these guys talked about her. He nodded to one guy who was guarding the door. He opened it.

The woman made her entrance, high heels, tonned slim legs, a dress tht could cost one of our gold bars, brown eyes, brown hair, perfectly shaped eyebrows.

What the hell!?


	13. Knight in shining armor

**Hi! I've got another one! This is not too long, but I think it's intense. I've got an exam on Friday, I'll do my best to keep posting this often, wish me luck! Hope you like it, and thank you all! C.**

"What do you want, Evony?"

"You."

"Is this some terrible novel?" I was angry, what the hell was she doing here?

"Vito told me you were here." She smiled.

She held out a hand. So this was my new boss. "Why did you come here?" I didn't take her hand.

"I was told you were here, and you were looking for Lauren." She replied.

"And why would you care?"

"Let's say we had the same interests." She laughed a bit. "I don't think so." I cut her.

"You want Lauren, and my boss wants her, I think that makes us best friends." " You wish." I replied.

"Say business partners then." " So, you and her, you were with her because your boss told you to? What does that make you?" I mocked.

She laughed. " You don't know, do you? Lauren was with us, and with me, but she is so weak, she couldn't stand it, she was looking for her lost girlfriend, she was a softy."

"Why does your boss want her?" I inquired, I needed to get all the information I could, I knew I couldn't trust her, but still it was the best chance I had.

"That's none of your business. Why do you want her? I could tell you liked her, but that doesn't explain what the hell are you doing here, sweetheart."

"She betrayed me and Dyson, she cheated on me and left with the chick and the money." I tried to look as hurt as I could to be credible, it wasn't difficult, all I had to doy was think about my broken Gameboy, the one Lauren broke, Lauren, fuck.

"Oh, sorry honey." She sounded everything but sorry, I could tell she found it funny.

" So now I want my money, I was the one who found it anyway, I fighted for it." I said convinced.

"I think we'll make a great team." She winked. " Dinner, tonight!" She shouted as she walked out of the room.

Evony was already waiting when I walked into the restaurant. When I sat down already glaring, she frowned briefly.

"Stop pouting. No one is forcing you to be here." She was only half right. "You may as well enjoy yourself."

"I find very little reason to enjoy myself." "Are you really that self-absorbed?" Her question sounded so much like Lauren it made me pause.

"I'm not self-absorbed." My denial was quiet. It came out nearly a whisper. I didn't have the strength to defend myself. Not to this woman.

"You're in a beautiful restaurant that is impossible to get reservations at, with a beautiful woman whose company is equally difficult to procure, and you're sulking. Sounds rather self-absorbed to me."

"This from the woman who just called herself beautiful and unattainable."

She waved a hand dismissively.

The sommelier chose that moment to deliver a bottle. Evony must have ordered it. The pair of them made quite a production of opening and tasting and pouring. It was supposed to be impressive. I was unmoved.

"Can we just call a truce?" she asked once he left. "A truce?"

"You don't like me, though I'm not sure what I've done to incur your wrath, and I'm not sure I should like you. Let's just call it even."

I considered her words. She was right. I was mad at myself for being attracted to her. It wasn't her fault she possessed every trait that attracted me to her cousin.

"You're right. I'm sorry for my behavior." She smiled with actual warmth. "Thank you."

"I've got to ask though." Evony glanced up from what must have been very engaging wine considering how she was gazing into it. "Why shouldn't you like me?" I inquired

The smile grew. "You're here, apparently, to help bring Lauren back into the fold." Theoretically. "With her gone, I will likely inherit the family business. If she returns..." Evony gave a very sexy shrug.

"What?" I was very lost here.

She widened her eyes. " You really dont know shit!" I frowned, what else did I need to know? " well, well, you'll have to wait for her to tell you."

" Are you trying to say you have morals now?" " I should be offended, you're lucky I'm not. I'm saying I like the drama and this will be funny to see."

" What's your plan to get her back?" I needed answers, I was fed up of playing.

"You will ask her to." "Excuse me? Don't you think I would already have her.. my money back if I knew where she is?." I almost fucked up, almost…

" That's Vito and his guy's job." " It's not like they know what they're doing though." I argued, I was so not waiting till those pieces of shit did their jobs.

"Looks like she's not as smart as we thought." I frowned. "She's not doing a good job hiding. They found her in Vegas two weeks ago, near a gold buyer shop." I shivered as I heard her words. "But we don't want to kidnap her, we want the money back of course, but my boss wants her on our side and kidnapping isn't a good way to earn somebody's trust."

"Why is her so valuable?" " You'll have to ask your 'not anymore girlfriend'." Ok, that was harsh.

"So what do we do?" " They know where she's staying, we'll give her a call, making her think you're in trouble, and when she makes her appearance we'll ask her politely to stay."

"Why would she stay? She dumped me, remember? She left me in Mexico."

"My job is to make her go willingly to my boss, I don't give a shit if she stays." "If we want to convince her, then that's none of my business. And you can be sure it's none of yours, I'll make sure you get your money."

"What do you get from all of this?" " My boss doesn't kill me, I get to keep all my personal business and their protection, Works for me."

"Ok, then, how do we start?"

"Now, you call her, make her think we got you, you say goodbye to her. Her heart will do the rest." I nodded, I didn't like the idea of lying to her but it will be over soon, everything was going as I'd planned. I'd get Lauren back and the chance to kill the boss and get our freedom.

_A pone rang in a hotel room in Vegas._

_"What?" _ Lauren's voice seemed agressive.

"Lauren…" I was trying so hard not to cry but my voice broke. " They got me."

_"Bo? Are you hurt? I thought you were already safe…" _"I don't have time, babe, I had to hear you one more time… I guess Kenzi wasn't right, this time is a goodbye."

_"Bo don't say that, this is not happening. Bo, I'll find you, ok? Wait for me!"_

I hung up the phone. I was broken.

"Well done, sweetheart!" She congratulated me. " Now we're going home, it's time you meet the boss."

* * *

The limousine pulled out of the road, to a path that headed to one of those huge barred doors with a badge, the badge was the same shape as my necklace. I remembered the day Dyson gave it to me, it was his moms, but Lauren, she didn't like it, I guess I know why now. A huge white mansion at the other side.

Vito was waiting for us outside. Once we went inside the house Evony stepped into some kind of living room and served herself a drink. Vito followed her. She grabbed her drink and make a gesture to me to follow her.

Evony opened the door and flipped a switch. A bare bulb lit a weak circle of light in the office.

Dyson was tied to a chair in the center of the room. He was blindfolded.

Evony walked in ahead of me. Dyson raised his head at the noise.

I took out my dagger. Evony stopped in front of Dyson. Took his blindfold off. He looked up and locked eyes with me. He didn't blink. Didn't move. Just watched me. I continued in a circle around them. Behind Dyson, around Evony. Behind Dyson again, I dropped to my knees. I started sawing through the ties on Dyson's wrists left-handed. I should have gone with the serrated knife.

"Oh, Isabeau," Vito said. He was genuinely disappointed. Good. Maybe that misguided emotional connection would keep me and Dyson safe.

My hands were shaking. I nicked Dyson's palm. "Is this your choice?" Vito asked. "I gave you loyalty," I said. "But you always knew he would come first." There was a noise behind me. I barely registered it, started to turn, when my world went black.

* * *

"Bo. Damn it, Bo. Wake up." There was something hard poking me in the ribs. It felt less than fantastic. I groaned. "Are you awake? Please wake the fuck up. Please don't be dead." "I feel kinda dead."

"Oh, shit. Thank God."

"My head feels like it's gonna fall off." Actually, it felt like something had crawled in the back of my skull and was burrowing out through my eyes.

"Yeah, they hit you pretty hard. You were just laying there bleeding forever." Dyson sniffled a little. "I thought you were dead." "You sure we're alive?" I opened my eyes. It was dark. "I can't see anything." I tried to roll onto my back, but my hands were tied together behind me. So that didn't work too good. "Your eyes will adjust."

"I missed you so fuckin' bad."

"How long was I out for?"

"No idea. Couple minutes. Forever. There are a bunch of people down there now." He pointed to the door.

"Awesome. Any ideas how to get out of here?" I asked. My eyes were starting to adjust. There was a little light filtering through the blinds and the dirty window. " Lauren's coming, fuck, Lauren, they'll get her and I helped, Dyson, they will get her!"

"Bo, calm down! What the hell are you talking about?" Dyson took my hand.

"I..I had a plan, I tried to earn their trust and use them to get Lauren back, I was gonna kill their boss when Lauren appeared and free her from him, take her somewhere safe, and no one will follow us anymore!"

"Wait, Bo, you're rumbling, you did what? Why would Lauren appear?

"I worked for them, something like undercover. I used them to locate Lauren, she wasn't really hiding, my best guess, she was trying to mess with them, taking them far from us." He nodded.

"Undercover? Oh my god Bo, you should have told me!" "That's not the worst thing Dyson, I lied to her, I called her making her think I was in trouble, so they'll let me meet their boss and i'd get her back."

"Bo, that's not important anymore, she won't care, but we need to get out of here to keep going with your plan."

"Dyson, wait, what the hell are you doing here?" Last time I checked he was in Spain.

" I lost my patience, I couldn't stand being safe and knowing you weren't." I nodded. "How did you get caught?"

"The first place I went looking for you was where I left you, Vito had some guys patrolling, they were too many." "How is kenzi? Tamsin, Hale?" He laughed at that thought, that calmed me.

"They're fine, they love it there. Hale and Kenzi are togehter now." "Finally!" I was so glad to hear that. He keep talking " Hale and Tamsin got jobs as bartenders on the beach, they didn't want to use our money, although I told them I was totally fine with that. Tamsin has a girlfriend now too, she's from the island, they had a bit of trouble understanding each other at first, it was funny to see." We laughed, Tamsin with a girlfriend, that was new.

"Well, there's nothing I'd like to do more than keep going with this conversation, but we need to get the fuck out of here."

"Can you move your hands?" "A little. They doubled up my zip ties. My hands feel kinda

tingly," he said. "Good enough. I have a money clip in my jacket pocket. It's got a little pocket knife on it." If they hadn't taken it.

"I love you." "I know," I said. "Scoot around to where my hands are." I tried. It was hard. In movies and shit, when people are all tied up, I'm always thinking they're being pansies when they can't move. But no. It's fucking hard. Like you have no balance. Which I found out when I fell and couldn't catch myself. My shoulder hit the ground with a dull, painful thud.

"Did you just fall over?" Dyson asked.

"Yes, asshole. It hurt." Somehow, I managed to sit back up. It only took a minute and a half that time.

"The pocket inside my jacket." His hands were on my chest

now. "Stop feeling me up." "Get over yourself. If I wanted to cop a feel, I would have done

it years ago." "Yeah, right."

"Oh, shit. I got the pocket." He was right. His fingertips were at the pocket. "Almost. I almost got it. I can feel the money."

I shrugged my shoulders up. "Can you get it now?"

"Yes!" He started working the money up and out of the pocket. "Drop down a little." I did. The cash came out of my pocket. "I got it. I got it."

"'Kay. Can you get the money out?" "Maybe. Sorta." "That's descriptive." "I got it." Paper fluttered down into my lap. "Can you open the knife? Do you want to drop it into my hands?" "I think I got it. If it falls, then it's up to you." "Cool." "Jesus, Bo. Could this thing be any duller?" "Is duller a word?" "I don't fuckin' know. But that's what it is. Duller. And shit." I loved how smart Dyson sounded all the time. "Sorry," I scoffed. "It's vintage. I didn't know I needed to sharpen it."

"Oh, holy fuck." Something landed in my lap. "What?" "My hands. I can feel them." "You got it?" "I fuckin' got it." "You are a mother fucking badass." "I know. Scoot back around so I can do your hands." "Do your feet first. Then get me."

I went to the door. It was unlocked. Vito was pretty sure of himself. "Be quiet, okay?" Dyson nodded.

"We're going to be quiet and then we're gonna run like fucking hell." More nodding.

The plan was good in theory. We opened the door and slid out. I didn't even look below. We just crouched down so they couldn't see us. I pulled the door shut behind me. It made a little noise, but some people downstairs were shouting so I was pretty sure no one heard. Below us, a guy sat in the chair I'd passed on the way in. We were halfway down when we heard her.

"Where is she?" Lauren shouted.

"I told you, honey. I don't know." Vito. Liar, liar, pants on fire. "Yes, you do." Her voice was that kind of sexy creepy.

Dyson looked at me, his eyes wide and almost in tears. I already was. Lauren just had to be our knight in shining armor.

**TBC. Let me know what you think! ;)**


	14. Slapped and kissed

**Hi guys! I bring you some action! Let me know what you think. Just wanted to say this is so not the end, it's more like the beginning! Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoy! C.**

I continued down the stairs in an awkward crouch. We tried to be quiet, but the stairs were probably older than us, and upkeep was clearly not a priority. No one on the floor seemed to hear the creaking of the stairs. They just kept shouting at each other. But the guy at the bottom had to hear. He gave no sign of it. When we got closer, I realized why. The dumbass was listening to his iPod. Vito was going to kill him. Literally.

I pointed to Dyson and then pointed to his hands. He nodded. Then I pointed to me and covered my mouth. We were so good at hand signals. At the bottom of the stairs, we moved fast. Just like I planned. Dyson grabbed Dude's hands. I covered his mouth. He tried to jump up out of his chair, but Dyson pulled down hard on his hands so he couldn't move. I cradled his head in my arm so he couldn't jerk away and start shouting. Then I yanked out his headphones and wrapped them around his wrists. Dyson let go with one hand so he could feel the dude up. He found a knife. He pressed it against the guy's throat.

"You can stay here," He whispered in his ear. "And they'll probably kill you. Or you can run and you'll have thirty minutes head start."

The guy nodded. Or tried to. I was still holding his head. And Dyson had a knife at his throat.

"Blink once if you want to stay. We'll knock you out and you may not wake up. Blink twice if you want to go." He started blinking rapidly. "Good choice. Be very quiet. If they hear you leave, you're dead. Bo is gonna check you for weapons. Make a noise and I'll kill you."

There was a gun on his belt and another in his waistband. And he had a small revolver strapped to his ankle. Also an assortment of knives. This dude was carrying a small arsenal. We kept it all, we were gonna need it.

The second we set foot in the room, I knew it wasn't going to go well. The whole crew was there. So I figured I should just go with it.

"What is wrong with you, Vito?" The room went silent. "I heard you lying to Lauren." I grinned and shook my finger. That would really piss him off. "You had me and Dyson tied up in that little room up there. And she was all worried. Were you just going to surprise her later?" Lauren was to my left. I could feel her. But I didn't look. Instead, I made eye contact and greeted everyone in the room by name.

"Evony, honey." I heard Lauren say, her voice made me smile. "Listen, I know we need to talk, but the thing is you're a horrible person. That's why it never would have worked between us. It's not just 'cause I have this thing for Bo, well, there is that, but it's you. Not me. I lied before. I didn't want to hurt your feelings when you threw yourself at me, but now I know you don't have feelings. So I figured I should just be honest." I looked at her then and gave her the most sincere smile.

I looked at the only guy in the room I didn't recognize. He was old. Wearing a better suit than anyone else present. "You must be the boss. I'm going to call you sir because you're old, but definetely not my boss."

"And you must be the little crazy one. Bo, is it?"

"That's me. I've heard a lot about you. None of it good, I promise." He laughed at that. It was a good sort of laugh, deep and rich, but with a bit of a wheeze at the end. The cigarettes.

Evony cleared her throat and nearly every person in the room produced a gun, which they pointed at Dyson and me.

"Put down the guns, you two," Vito said.

Most of the time, Dyson and I were relatively stupid. But I had a gun in my junk so we did the smart thing. Ejected our clips, slid open the chambers, displayed them with very visible hands, then carefully put down the guns. It was a cute little show, really.

"Boys," Vito said. Men stepped forward and grabbed us. Bobby came up and patted us down. He emptied the knives from our pockets. But he didn't have the balls to check my underwear. Good for me I kept one of that guy's gun there.

"Damn, guys," I said. "This feels a little unnecessary, ya know?"

"I agree," Dyson said.

Dyson smirked at me. "A little heavy-handed. And then my sister comes in here looking for us and you lie. That's pretty lame."

"Lame," I echoed. "So why don't you let us go?" "Be quiet, Dyson," the boss said. "Oh, hey, grandpa." Dyson gave him a head nod. "How's it hangin', old man?" His fucking grandfather? I tried not to look surprised, but, really, their grandfather? Then it hit me, he looked a lot like their mother, the same as Lauren too, Dyson was different though, his features seemed more like his fathers. She could have told me she was like a fucking mafia princess sooner.

"I told you to be quiet." The boss replied.

"Yeah, it didn't work when I was five. Why would it work now?"

"Shut up, you little bastard." "Don't call him that," Lauren said. And I just had to look at her. My knees got weak. Literally. She was wearing a fur coat, which was a little weird, but hot. Under that was a dress, of sorts. It stopped about an inch short of decorum. Her hair was pulled back in some sort of knot. Dangling earrings caught the lights and sprayed her neck in a series of ever changing patterns. The heels were what made it, I decided. They were like high. And totally hot. And black. Her eyes were dark too. And shining like those earrings. She was classic Hollywood. But slutty. And way sexier than those broads ever were. There's just something about a classy girl dressing up trashy. And I knew she did it to piss off Grandpa. Damn, I loved that girl.

"I will call the bastard whatever I want to call him," the boss said. Back to reality.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Dyson shouted. "Really, all of you. What the fuck did I ever do that made you hate me so damn much?"

No one answered. So I thought I would. "You looked like your father," I said. The room got quiet. "What?" Dyson asked. "You looked like you father." I looked at the boss. "Lauren looked like Elizabeth, his daughter, but you looked like your father." I looked at Lauren, she nod.

"So, you did learn something from us, you learnt to think at least." The boss said calmy. "Ah, Lauren, did you know she's been working for us?"

"You're lying," Lauren said.

"No, honey," Vito told her. " She worked with me, Vex and Evony all this time."

"I'm sorry." I looked at Lauren, then Dyson. "I'm so sorry, it was the only way."

"But..." Lauren had tears gathering now. "Why?"

"There's more. Come on, finish the story."

"Shut the fuck up," I told Vito. I turned to Lauren. "I lied to you when I called you." Lauren looked at me, but I couldn't read the expression on her face.

"Okay," She finally said. "I'm sure there's more to it, but I trust you. So that's enough for me."

"What?" Evony screeched. "You're just going to let that go?" Lauren turned to her. Her eyes were sharp and glittering. "Be quiet." "I will damn well say whatever I want to say," Evony shot back.

"Yeah, you're good at that," I said. "Excuse me?" "You are good at saying and doing whatever the hell you want. It's a whole elitism thing. Like the world and everything in it belongs to you. Except it doesn't," I explained.

"That's enough," the boss spoke again. "I did not come here to listen to my family argue. Lauren, would you like to stay with us this time?"

"No." Simple. I liked it.

The boss gave a little hand signal and two guys stepped forward.

"Wait, Boss." Evony said. He looked at her, smiled, and nodded. The guys stepped back and she crossed to me. Then she hit me, I wasn't expecting that.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lauren asked. She grabbed her shoulder and made her face her. Next time I looked Evony was on the floor, Lauren had punched her on her nose.

"That was kinda hot," I said. They both glared at me. "Sorry."

"What is this?" Lauren asked her grandfather. "You beat Bo until I agree to run your business?"

"Of course not." He frowned at her. "I am simply hoping you decide to do the right thing." "Fuck that," I said. "She's never going to work for you. You may as well kill me."

"I am not opposed to that," the boss said.

"Go for it," I told him. That was probably not a smart thing to say in a room full of people with guns who very much wanted to kill me. They were kind enough to confirm that for me by putting a gun to my temple.

"Shut the hell up, Bo" Dyson said. "We came back to get you. Not kill you."

I smiled at him. "It's okay. Get out. Don't come back." I looked at Vito, then the boss. "One thing."

"What?" Vito asked.

"Dying wish and all that." They waited. "Let me kiss her. Just once."

And the crazy fuckers gave me a nod.

"I am not doing this," Lauren said.

"Sure you are," I told her. I very slowly put my fingertips on the gun one of the guys was holding to my head and turned it so it was pointed not at my head.

"No, stop it." Lauren looked panicked. "It's okay." "I'm not letting you die," She said. I wiped the blood off my mouth with the back of my hand.

Lauren took a step backward. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into me. And then I kissed her.

It was like coming home. It was worth leaving home. She didn't kiss me back right away. And then she did. Her lips moved over mine, exploring, teasing. She didn't open her mouth. Just kissed me. Her back arched. She moaned. The tip of her tongue traced my bottom lip. I groaned.

Someone cleared their throat. Then I remembered why I was supposed to be kissing her. I angled my hips forward into hers. Lauren paused. Good, she felt it. Her hands, which had been grasped in mine, moved to my stomach. I wrapped my arms around her waist to cover her movements. Deftly, she removed the gun. The backs of her fingers trailed over my stomach.

I stopped kissing her.

Lauren pressed her cheek to mine. "Follow my lead." "All right, hotpants." I nodded and kissed her cheek. Then I stepped back.

"This is how we're going to do this," Lauren told the room.

"Bo, Dyson, and I are going to leave. You are going to let us. When you die"—she looked at her grandfather—"Evony will probably take over. She's crazy and you like crazy. You will never see us again. And you'll never even try to see us again."

"No." The boss smiled.

"Yes. Because if you don't let us go." Lauren pressed the revolver to her temple. "Then I'll be going with them."

"Fuck that." Dyson tried to throw off the guys holding him. It didn't work. They were bigger.

"Holy fuck, Lauren. Put the gun down." I tried to step forward to take the gun away. But Evony grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back. Ouch.

"Go ahead," Evony said.

"Psychotic bitch." I elbowed Evony off me. She punched me in the back of the head. I saw lights and colors I'd never seen before.

"Stop it," Lauren said. "Make a choice." I turned to look at the boss. Everyone turned to look at the boss. "Give her your keys," he said to Vito. "You may go," he told us. "Thank you." Lauren cocked the gun. "Everyone move slow, okay? My finger is on the trigger. And these things go off with so little motivation. Let go of Bo. Good. Bo, the keys. Let's go." Dyson and I preceded her out the door. We ran for Vito's car. I hurled from all the running, then got in the driver's seat. And drove the fuck out of there. "Are you insane?" I asked once we were on the main road. "Madly," Lauren said. "That was so un-fucking-cool," Dyson contributed. "It worked." But it didn't, my plan was to end it all, now they would chase us. They'd lost the money, they'd lost Lauren, there was no way they would let it go. But she was here, and that was more than enough now.

"Dyson can you switch with Bo and drive?" Lauren asked, winking at me.

"Yeah sure." He was still on shock, we could have told him anything, he would have done it.

I stoped the car and join Lauren on the backseat, I was smiling, I could finally get a real kiss without audience and maybe some touching. Nothing further from reality, instead she slapped me.

"What the…" " Don't you dare do that again!" She was yelling now. "I told you to go somewhere save! And what did you do? Join the fucking mob! And working with Evony? For fuck's sake! What the hell were you thinking?" Ok, she was pissed.

"I just…I needed you back!" "Ok, let me get this straight…so instead of do as I told you and wait for me to come to you, you joined the family to used them to get me for you? Are you out of your mind?" Really pissed.

"You went on a suicidal mision Lauren!" "I knew what I was doing! They would never kill me, I'm his granddaughter, but they could have killed you. And for what? To get me back? I was gonna get rid off them and then find you, you asshole!"

"My plan wasn't only getting you back, do you think I'm that selfish top ut you in danger for that? I was gonna kill your grandfather, well, I didn't know "the boss" was your grandfather. You could have told me you were like a fucking mafia princess by the way!" Her jaw dropped, the anger in her eyes vanished. "I had to earn their trust, so they'd let me meet him."

"Bo…I… I'm sorry" She began to cry in silence. " I shouldn't have let you get into this in the first place. I'll never forgive myself for that. I left cause I thought that would be the best for you." "I've missed you more than you can imagine." "I miss you too."

Dyson had already woken up from his shock. "Lauren, I think we deserve an explanation. The long version."

"Yes." She took a deep breath. "Last year of high school I heard mom having a conversation on the phone with our grandfather." She started, her voice almost broke when she said the word 'mom'. "They were talking about me and mom was refusing something, later I found out he wanted to train me to be his predecesor. As Bo said earlier you look like your father, I'm his real granddaughter. One day they found me in my way back home from high school and took me home in one of those cars. The boss was there too, he tried to convince me, he promised me everything you can imagine, he would pay for uni…but I refused, he was kind, but I didn't trust him after hearing that phone call. When Nadia disappeared I didn't know what to do, so I went to him, asked him to help me, help her and I accepted to work for him." Tears running her cheeks, I removed all of them with my fingertips and slid my arm around her body.

"Everytime I asked about any news for the Nadia's investigation they would give me some excuse. I tried as hard as I could but I couldn't stand it, so I left, I hide and tried to find Nadia myself. Nothing, it was like she had vanished. I felt hopeless. And well, I think you know the rest."

Dyson and I didn't know what to say, but that wasn't it, too many questions left.

"Ok, so, where is Christopher? Why hidding the money in the wall and not safer elsewhere? And..Am I the only one who thinks they might have Nadia?" I was talking so fast I didn't even pronounce all the words properly. Dyson looked at the driving mirror I could tell he wanted to kill me.

Lauren looked at me, she was clueless. "I'm sure it was a trap, they kidnapped her and that way you'd need them." She nod. "It sounds like them." She said.

"Anyway, we have the money, who cares about fucking Christopher, we'll leave in the first plane." Dyson said, he was worried we wanted to stay to solve the whole thing, I was worried too.

"That would be for the best." Finally Lauren said thoughtfully, she wanted to solve the whole thing, I was sure, that was how she always was, and anyone could never change that. But for now, I was taking her somewhere safe.

** TBC.**


	15. An unexpected visitor

**Hey guys! I'm brining a chapter full of new questions! The good thing is I'll be answering some of them in the next chapter, well, maybe, you'll have to wait ;) Hope you like it. Thank you! C.**

The knocking on the door was starting to sound impatient. I seriously considered ignoring it. But it wasn't just me anymore. I had the twins to watch out for. I kissed the top of Lauren's head. My head got light. I closed my eyes as I let the smell of her hair assault me. When I opened my eyes again they were blurry. I could stay right there, smelling her hair forever, breathing in the memories, and never move. Forever. The concept didn't seem foreign anymore. It didn't seem so far away either.

The knocking on the door stopped. Shit. I really needed to know who was there. If it was Vito, we were all going to die. Soon. Slowly, very slowly, I slid up the bed. Dyson burrowed into my ribs. Lauren murmured in her sleep. Climbing out of bed without disturbing a sleeping woman was a skill. One that I'd once been very good at. But it was a lot harder with two people. Especially when both of them were on top of me. I shifted my left shoulder up away from Dyson's face. Then I eased Lauren's head off my other shoulder and onto the pillow. She must have been exhausted. Usually, she woke up if I was breathing too loud. High standards, that girl. The knocking started up again. Louder. If that was possible. I freed my legs from Dyson's, lifted Lauren's hand out of my shirt.

And then I was good to go. I grabbed the jeans I'd been wearing when we arrived and pulled them on.

I made my way past the still made second bed to the door. The security latch was in place. I left it there and opened the door.

"Christopher?" Damn. He smiled.

"Just a sec." I closed the door again. I ran to the bed. " Guys, wake up!" Dyson didn't seem to like the idea but Lauren had already stood up. "It's fucking Christopher! We're dead! Fuck, shit fuck.!" I started to panick, running in circles. Lauren was almost laughing. "What is so fucking funny?" I yelled at her.

"I called him." She said simply. "You what?" "He's not with them Bo, he's an asshole, but he's on our side." "How do you know that?" She walked to the door and opened it, letting him in.

"Is my father here?" she asked.

"Downstairs. We didn't know if you had told them yet."

"Not yet. And I think they wanna kill you."

"Hey, kids." He smiled a little. The smile died when he saw our faces.

"Go the fuck away," Dyson said. "Dyson!," Lauren said. "Yeah, leave or I kill you." That was all I could articulate.

"You don't need any more blood on your hands." Lauren answered. It was directed at me. And it hurt like a fucking bitch. I didn't need to be reminded of that shit.

"Fuck you," I said.

"Hey, whoa. Let's take this back a notch, all right?" Christopher decided to be the adult. We weren't acting like it.

"Do you mind waiting downstairs?" Lauren asked Christopher. "We need to talk."

"That's probably for the best." Dyson and I made our way back to bed.

He nodded and let himself out. "Is he gone?" Dyson sat up and rubbed his face. "Cool. We can sneak out the back and he'll never find us." "So smart." I rolled over too. "Why the hell would you let him know where we are?" I was pissed.

"We need to talk. About our parents."

"They're dead. Why damage the memory?" Dyson. "Can you please just indulge me? Maybe get out of bed?" "No," He said.

"Our dad is alive. He's waiting downstairs to meet you." "That's not funny," Dyson said.

She continued talking. " When I went on my own I wanted to be noticed, so they would follow me and not you, so the first thing I did was go back home. That's where I found Christopher, and I guess you already know we were waiting for him to find us, not the other way around, so I give him a chance to explain before pulling the trigger. And thank god for that. You'll get more answers if you come downstairs."

"Okay. I'm getting in the shower." Dyson got out of bed. Finally. "Wouldn't want to meet Daddy without looking our best." The way Dyson said Daddy he may as well have put air quotes around it. He didn't believe her.

"You really think I would make something like this up?" She asked to me.

I shrugged. "I thought you trusted me." "Trust is an interesting concept, Lauren." "You said in Mexico you trusted me." "I do. I trust you to keep me alive. I trust you to keep me out of physical danger." "What the hell does that mean?" Lauren got angry " How can I be sure you're not leaving us again? You should have told me about working for your family. You should have told me what they do," I said. "There was nothing to tell you." Seriously? She was going to go with it wasn't my business? "You didn't think it was necessary to mention that your family was organized crime? And, oh yeah, you worked for them." I was laying the sarcasm on extra thick. It didn't help.

"It didn't concern you, it still doesn't ." She was getting mad. " You're the one who doesn't trut anybody, and you ask me to trust you." I replied. She looked to the floor.

"So this is it?" I felt my voice break as I said it. Six months. Fourteen years of waiting. The time didn't matter. I'd known somewhere deep inside that she would never be mine, not really. Maybe that was why I'd spent so long hating her. Maybe that was why I'd been given her reasons not to trust me all my life. So there would be something to blame instead of just me.

I wanted to go find a dark corner and cry. I wanted to run away. I wanted to believe that she still needed me like I needed her. But I'd been doing all of that since she had left me in Mexico. It hadn't brought her back and it hadn't made her love me. So I turned away.

She grabbed my shoulder and made me tunr around and face her. She pressed her lips into mine as hard as she could. In response, I leaned closer so my body was pressed against the length of hers, trapping her. Her expression hardened, she was still mad. She slid her hand into my pants in a quick move.

she slid a finger on either side of my clit and squeezed.

Fuck if it didn't feel good too.

"You like that? Is this what you want? For me to fuck you?" Each question was accompanied by a steady squeeze and release.

I fought the rush of blood from my head to my groin so I could speak coherently. Squeeze, release.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. Squeeze, release. "Babe." I placed my hand over her heart. "I want this."

The anger in her eyes softened. Just a little. "Don't you know?" She stopped jerking me off and removed her hand from my pants. Her eyes dropped to the floor. "You've already got it."

"No, I don't," I said. "You still don't trust me. I need you to trust me." She nodded.

She cupped her hands behind my head and started tugging at my hair. Damn, I loved when she did that.

Lauren dropped her forehead to my chest. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," I whispered into her hair. "Just stop lying to me."

She nodded with her face still pressed against me. So I lifted her chin and kissed her. Kissed her like I was dying, probably because I was dying. Slowly, painfully, each day she refused to touch me, look at me, just fucking talk to me. I kissed her with the pain, the anger, the pent up longing to feel her skin against mine.

Apparently, I wasn't alone.

She kissed me back like I was air. Just air. Beneath my lips, she started to breathe the way she hadn't in days. Actually filling her lungs with oxygen, with me. Under my fingertips, blood rushed to the surface turning her smooth skin into liquid heat.

We tore at each other's clothes. Destroying those barriers until it was skin on skin. For the first time in months, I felt warm.

She pushed my hand between her thighs, taking me in with a gasp that sounded like, "Need you."

I could only nod.

"Harder," she gasped. "Please, harder." Her eyes locked on mine, the color of shale almost blacked out by her wide pupils. "I want it. I want you."

She kissed me again, biting my tongue, sucking on it, making my head spin. I added a third finger and fucked her until her eyes rolled back. My mouth was at her throat, her breasts leaving marks. I wrapped my lips around a nipple and sucked so I could really taste her skin. I loved the way she tasted. All the while, I continued to pump into her harder, faster.

This was my way of telling her...everything. That I wasn't leaving and neither was she. Nothing could come between us. Not now. Not ever. I wanted her to feel me everywhere, the way I felt her. Because I was too afraid to say what I wanted to say. So I was going to show her.

"Oh, yeah, like that." Lauren whimpered. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and came. So I took her lip into my mouth and kept fucking her. Her cunt stretched then tightened around me, holding me in.

"Oh, God. Don't stop."

I didn't. I never would. She was all I knew. Only her. Only Lauren. I braced my palm on the window behind her to hold us up. She clawed at my naked back, sweat slick hands dropping low to grab my ass and pull me into her. I was so deep in her I didn't think I'd ever find a way back out. Her nails dug into my skin as she came again with a final grasp of my hand and a rush of wetness. Watching her, I came too.

We were resting on the bed. We shoud really stop now, Dyson could spend a lot of time showering, but still. She was facing me, drawing with her fingertips, caressing my body. She raced a fingertip over the bandage on my bicep. "What happened to you?" It was stiff in the center from dried blood. Then he trailed down to my elbow. That one only had a Band-Aid. She askes with a sad look, knowing the answer "Where else are you hurt?" Without waiting for the answers she started to inspect me.

"It's not that bad," I said.

"What did they do to you?" Lauren lifted my arm to look at the still healing scar on my ribcage.

"It's a bullet wound." "I can see that. What happened?" "Shit," I said. "And what's this one?" "Knife."

With all that questions it took me time to realize she was also injured "And this?" I pointed to a deep cuto n her wrist . "That one was my idea." My eyes widened. "No, not like that. We needed blood." "What?" "To fake Christopher's death. It's a long story," She simply said.

"Excuse me?" She had to be kidding. "Are you telling me you cut yourself to fake that asshole's death? Why?"

"We'll explain everything to you, but we have to go meet my father." I frowned, I kissed her wrist, and then, I checked my dagger in my ankle, trying to be subtle, but I just didn't like it.

* * *

"Just to be clear," I stopped laughing long enough to say. "You went to kill Christopher, but stopped when you realized your biological father was there." "Yes." She was studying the elevator lights as if that would make the damn thing come to our floor faster. "So, you thought Christopher was the one your grandfather sent to chase us, that he was Vito's boss." "Yes" "But if you knew your granfather was the 'big boss', why kill Christopher? Trying to mess with them?" "Yes" " So they would be to busy with you to follow us?" "Yes" "So why faking Christopher's death? And can you say any other word than 'yes'?" I was getting pissed, and she was giggling harder each time. "Yes" She was already laughing.

The elevator finally arrived.

**Let me know what you think!**


	16. Ghosts

**Hey guys! New update, this was is quite short, that's why I posted it this quick, not many things happen in this one but it's necessary to get the whole thing. Hope you like it! And thanks! C.**

Dyson saw them first. "That guy? He's not that handsome anymore."He whispered. "What'" I replied. "They say I look like him." I smiled at him, I know he was trying to play it wasn't really working. "No fucking shit." He whispered again. "Why did you bring them here?" At least they were far enough not to hear us.

"Because I thought you would want to know your father, again." Lauren simply said.

"Shit just got real." Only Dyson. "You in?" I asked. "Well, it's a bit late to go back."

"This is Derek" Lauren. It was kind of obvious that this was him, but someone had to say something.

"Hello," Derek said. His smile was weak.

"For real," was all Dyson said. I said nothing. It was going to be hard for Lauren to mediate this conversation.

"We ordered coffee," Christopher said. We turned to look at him.

"Fuck, man. What happened to your face?" Dyson asked even though he knew what had happened to Christopher's face.

"My God. Lauren did that to you?" I looked back and forth between Christopher and Lauren with my mouth open. "Yes," Christopher said. "So everything you said was true?" Dyson asked her. "Yeah. Why would I make it up?" We didn't have an answer for that.

"Ok, so why exactly are we doing here?" I asked. All I could think was how much I wanted to get the fuck out of here and go away with my family and the money.

"We have a lot to explain, but the important thing is we want to protect you." Derek said calmy. He looked exactly like Dyson, but he talked like Lauren, it made me like him even if I didn't want to.

"We don't really know anything about you. Not anymore" Dyson said.

I shrugged. "Christopher refused to talk about you after Elizabeth died. Eventually, they stopped asking. Besides, I thought you were dead." I said. "And we hadn't a good relationship with him, he was never there."

"One thing. I asked you to do one thing!" Derek looked to Christopher, but his look didn't seem to say the same as his words did, it was gentler. "You asked me to do a number of things," Christopher said. "I asked my oldest and best friend in the world to do something for me and he failed miserably." Derek explained.

"One thing?" Christopher looked offended. "One thing? I raised your children, just like you asked. I killed you, for God's sake. I married your widow. Who, by the way, hated me for the decade that we were married. That is not one thing."

"I asked you to look after my family. That is one thing." "And killing my best friend? Where does that fit in?" "I'm sorry to break this up." No, I wasn't. "But I gotta ask. You're looking great for someone who is supposed to be dead."

"That wasn't a question," Christopher said. "It was implied." "I thought you said she and Dyson told each other everything," Derek said to Christopher. "They do."

"Then why does she keep saying she thought I was dead?" "I'm sorry," he said. "I'll explain." "I know you will," Derek responded.

"I am not sure where to start," Derek said. "We're beyond confused, so the beginning." Dyson said. Lauren kept quiet, I supossed she already heard this once, at least the most important pieces. "I was born in Glasgow… "

"No, please no," I said. "Fast forward like twenty years."

"I worked for the family s as—" "Wait. Go back." I couldn't help myself. "Where's Glasgow?"

He looked at me like I was an idiot. That was cool. I was an idiot. "Scotland." He turned to Christopher. "Does she know nothing?" "Bo and your son smoke a lot of pot. It makes them stupid." I stared at Christopher, totally shocked. "Please, Isabeau. I'm not nearly as naïve as you three think I am."

"I'm not stupid!" Dyson protested, Lauren laughed. "Whatever." Dyson "Fast forward again. I'm guessing you were into Elizabeth and her daddy didn't like it."

"That is an understatement," he said.

"They were completely obsessed with each other," Christopher cut in. "The boss threatened to kill Derek when they told him they were engaged. Besides he already had a son, and that kind of relatioship wasn't enough for his daughter."

"Can I please tell my own story?" Derek asked. Christopher shrugged. I had never seen him shrug in my entire life. "When the boss expressed his dissatisfaction, we decided to elope."

"And he stopped you?" Dyson asked. "No. We left the country. They didn't find us for nearly a year." "And shit went down?" I couldn't help myself. "How hard would it be for you two to sit quietly?" He asked.

"They forced us back to Cali. Her father wanted the marriage annulled, but Elizabeth was already pregnant with Lauren by then. I spent a week locked up in a basement while he debated what to do."

"So how do you fit in to this?" I asked Christopher. "I am getting to that," Derek said. "Sorry." "The boss decided to kill me. And he wanted Elizabeth to have an abortion. He wanted to erase every trace of me. I couldn't let him kill my child."

"How'd you get out of it?" Derek looked at Christopher, waited for him to speak. "Elizabeth and I went to the boss. We offered to get married. That way she could keep the baby and she would be legitimate. It was our only bargaining chip," Christopher said.

"How is that a bargaining chip?"

Derek took a long, deep breath. "The boss always wanted them to marry. It was an opportunity to force them into it."

"Of course, I refused," Christopher said. "Because he's your best friend." Christopher nodded. Derek laughed. "My God, Christopher. You really didn't tell them anything?" "I didn't want to revisit old pain." Christopher looked hurt.

"He didn't want to leave his lover," Derek said. "His lover?" Interesting word choice. "His boyfriend." His boyfriend? Christopher's boyfriend. Holy fuckin' shit. "You're gay?" I shouted.

"Of course he's gay." Derek seemed to find this very amusing. "You're gay?" I repeated. "Yes," Christopher said. "But, like gay?" Still shouting. "Yes. Gay. I'm gay. Why is that so hard to believe?" "I don't know. Maybe because you never mentioned it in twenty-one years?" "Why would I?" Christopher asked. "What fucking decade is this that I have to tell you that being out is always better than the closet?" I asked. Was this dude for real? "And who would it have helped?" "Seriously? You, for one. And Bo, and me, and Tamsin. It might have been nice when we were all coming out. I might have wanted someone to tell me that it didn't matter. That it was okay." Lauren argued, looked like she hadn't been told that yet.

"Please, I wasn't that bad. Not bad enough that she couldn't tell me something that important."

"Right. Like the time that math teacher refused to speak to her once he found out Lauren was a lesbian. And you refused to even go to the school. My granddad had to go meet with the principal. So don't fuckin' talk to me about that shit." I tried to help Lauren.

"And what was I supposed to do?" Christopher asked. "Tell Lauren that I'm gay, but I abandoned my entire life to live in a shell of a heteronormative marriage? That maybe I could have made a difference for her, but instead I took the money and hid? Would that have been a rousing endorsement?"

And that was when I realized our hatred of him wasn't even a shadow of his self-loathing. There was no need to hate him. He was doing it all for us.

"There is more to the story," Derek said. "Please, enlighten me." "It wasn't supposed to be long-term." "Marriage was the short-term solution?" I asked. "Yes. We thought I would be able to get Elizabeth and the kids out of the country where Derek could meet up with us. All we had to do was get married," Christopher said.

"That doesn't make sense. Didn't her dad know that you guys were BFFs?"

Both men smiled. Actually, Christopher's was more of a grimace. His jaw tightened. Derek's was an angry smile.

"I offered to kill him to prove my loyalty. That's what convinced him," Christopher said.

"Looks alive to me." Dyson said. "We faked it. Very well," Derek said. "You faked it?" Christopher didn't say anything for a long time. When he began to speak he looked into Dyson's eyes.

"I knew someone would follow me to make sure I followed through. I took him out on my boat. Beat him. With a piece of pipe. The sound it made against his body. It was...so loud. There was blood everywhere. On my clothes and hands. My face. The deck was covered."

I expected him to look away. Maybe study his hands to find the evidence. But he didn't. He just stared at Dyson.

"It's all right." Derek reached across the table to squeeze Christopher's shoulder. "I can tell the rest."

"No." Christopher's eyes snapped away. "I shot him in the head, tied cement blocks to his feet, and dumped him into the water."

"Christopher, stop," Derek said. "You didn't shoot me in the head. You shot very near to my head." He turned to me. "We had a plan. We executed the plan. It worked very well. From the other boat, it appeared that I was dead. But as soon as Christopher pushed me into the water, I cut away the blocks and swam to the bow of his boat. By the time we arrived back at the dock, I was hidden below the deck. Within the week, I was in Canada and Elizabeth and Christopher were married."

Then a pause, it was a long one, all of us thinking about the story,but I don't really like this kind of moments so I spoke first, I turned to Lauren. " So you tried to do the same with Christopher." She nodded.

"That way I could get away too, get my life back." Christopher said, his voice revealed happiness and I could tell he was proud Lauren did such a thing for him. " I had nothing to lose, and it would help me messing with the family, I wanted their attention."All of us stared at her, different thoughts went through my mind, I knew how much she would have hated doing something like that, Christopher even could talk about it years ago. I took her hand, she looked at me, forming tears in her eyes, I caressed her hand, trying to give her strength. I knew she didn't want to show her feelings.

"So what now?"

**Surprised? ;)**


	17. What now?

**Hi! I'm here again! Sorry for the waiting, I'm trying to do my best! Hope you like this, let me know what you think and thank you very much for reading! C.**

"What now?"

"We get the fuck out of here and go to our beloved money. Beach and booze, do I need to say anything more?" Dyson said. It was probably the lonest speech I've ever heard coming out of his mouth.

"I couldn't agree more." I nodded several times. More than necessary. Even Lauren looked happy.

Christopher shook his head. What now? " There's something left to be done." Derek looked at his like he was gonna kill him. "We're not safe yet, they'll never stop chasing us.

"But, why did you have the money in the first place?! I asked Christopher.

"It was Elizabeth's but since she died, well," I saw the sad look Lauren and Dyson give him. " they wanted the money, it was tightfuly yours but they don't really care about right's, do they? So we decided to hide it."

"Why gold bars? They're fucking difficult to hide!" "I have a friend, an artist. He was going to melt them down and put the gold in statues. The statues could be shipped wherever we wanted. Still a paper trail, but not the kind the boss and his men would look for."

That worked for me, I was starting to think they weren't that bad.

"I think we should sort everything out before leaving, I don't want them to follow us to Europe and put the guys in danger." Dyson nodded. " No, I was thinking you should go there now, they don't want you, there's no point risking your safety."

"No!" Dyson got angry. " You're not doing that again, you have no right to decide for me, you did it once and ir almost got Bo killed." Lauren's eyes widened, she wasn't expecting that.

"In fact I was thinking Derek and I should stay and get the things done, we're supossed to be dead now, they won't be expecting us. And you kids, go and be safe." Lauren shook her head, I wasn't convinced by the idea either.

"They wanted me, they wanted my money and they took away everything from me, since Nadia, I'm not letting this go." I could hear her hatred in her words. " That's what we wanted to talk about." Christopher said and all the eyes went for him. Derek was getting angrier with him every minute. It was nice to see how he looked at him cause it was obvios how much they loved each other, just like me and Dyson.

" What..?" Lauren's voice was broken. It hurt her, I knew, but still I felt a bit jealous about the Nadia thing. She left me in Mexico but she did never let Nadia go.

"They kidnapped Nadia." Christopher said quickly as if he was removing a plaster. Dyson and I looked at Lauren, who was surprisingly calm.

"I know." She didn't falter. No one spoke. " I realized I had fallen into their trap when I saw the things they were capable of doing, so I tried to find her from inside the organitation, but it's big and no one talks about each other's business, so I was hopeless, I never gave up looking for her though, maybe if I had been stonger I'd have found her, I don't know…" She felt guilty, I've always known there was something inside her that was kiling her. She had always been that kind of person with more secrets and thoughts than smiles. She intriged me, she intriged everyone for that matter.

I took her hand between mine. "We'll find her, I promise." "Don't promise something you don't know you'll be able to do." That was a bit harsh, I have to admit it. "I know, we will, we know how they work know, we have everything they want, we're a step ahead.

" I hate saying this but I agree with her." Christopher said with a weak smile.

"But there's no way I'm gonna let you do that" Derek intervened. "That's not for you to say, you have no right to tell me what I must or mustn't do." She spat. I found it funny somehow, it was a teenager tipical reaction to their father command. Derek looked to the floor without an answer. "There's anything else you know, Christopher?"

"Yes, I think I know who had her, sorry, has." Lauren hand was trembling. "I'm not sure, but it used to her especiallity. Evony."

"But Evony's especiality is to prostitute girls." I said and then I realized what I was saying. "Fuck." Christopher looked at me right in the eye. Lauren removed her hand from mine and sighed, Dyson sallowed.

"Then we go to Evony's" Lauren simply said. "Wait, we need a plan, don't we? We can't appear and take her going unnoticed so easily." I said, I felt proud I was the one being logic for once.

"Right. I think we need a distraction, just the way Lauren did when she went away, looking for trouble." Dyson tried.

"Again? Do you think that'll work?" I wasn't convinced at all. "No, we can't use the same plan, they are not that dumbass."

"We'll offer and Exchange, the money for the girl." I tried. "This is not a movie, that's just too easy." Lauren replied.

"Undercover." Derek. "I think everyone is pretty known there." Christopher.

"Ok, we're running out of ideas." I was getting bored, and that was the first time in a lot of months I could say so.

Ten minutes later.

"I got it. We simply attack them." I tried. "That was our first discarded option Bo." Christopher argued, he had always thought I was retarded.

"I've got a plan, I'll explain you on our way. I think I know somebody who may help for some money." "Who?" Lauren was intrigued. "I'll give him a call and we'll sort it out. You all have to trust me."

Dyson nodded quickly, Derek and Christopher did as well in a more serious way. I looked to Lauren who smiled at me and looked at me in approval.

"So...back to Vegas."

Two hours later we were on our way, the five of us in just one car. Derek wasn't exactly tiny, it was everything but comfortable.

"I'm hungry," I announced to the group. As if they cared. "Fuck, yes," Dyson said. "Yeah, hurry up," Lauren told Dyson who was driving. "There are snacks in the trunk," Christopher said. "Serious?" I ditched them to find food. I was pretty sure I'd only eaten Cheetos and Zebra Cakes since forever. Dyson drived out of the road to get the 'food' out of the trunk.

"Did you find the food?" Christopher asked. "Fucking carrots," I said. "Yes. And water," he said. "What's wrong with you?" Lauren turned to glare at him. The sibling where in the front, I was sitting between Derek and Christopher, it was weird, and I missed Lauren, her touch was much more gentler than this guys legs using all the room.

"What?" Christopher asked.

"Carrots aren't food," I told him. "I agree," Dyson said. "I want something fried. And covered in melted cheese. Real food." Christopher grimaced. "We can stop and get burgers," Derek said. Dyson and Lauren looked at him like he was crazy. "We don't eat beef," Lauren told Derek. "I don't understand." He said sincerely. "Dyson and Lauren. They don't eat beef or pork," I explained. "You kids are vegetarians?" he asked all confused. "No," Lauren answered. "We just don't eat beef or pork. Chicken, turkey, and fish are okay." "Why not?" Derek wanted to know. "Tastes gross," Dyson said. "Totally greasy." Lauren

"What about you?" Derek asked me. "I'm a carnivore," I said. "I like you kid." Derek said and just shook his head and shot Christopher a look. "What?" Christopher asked. "My children are vegetarians. It is your fault." "What's wrong with that?" Christopher asked. "He's a pansy," Derek said. "Hey." Lauren sounded pissed. Dyson and I said nothing. "He isn't a pansy," Christopher said. They all looked to Dyson to see if he would say anything. He just shrugged and kept shoveling. "Shouldn't you be defending yourself?" Dyson finally asked. "I'm comfortable with myself. Don't need to defend anything,"

Dyson said. No one responded so he continued, "I've worn women's underwear, dressed in drag, and rocked heels once for a bet. I once flirted with a guy just to get a video game. I wear skintight jeans because they make my ass look awesome. If you didn't notice,I fuck girls though, and even if I didn't that's none of your business. For two years in high school, I wore eye makeup, it was a goth thing. I stopped because it looked like hell in the morning. I used to spend more on hair and skin products than Lauren doid. And if you have a problem with any of that, then keep it to yourself."

I was stunned. That was the longest speech I'd heard from Dyson since freshman year of college when he actually had to give a speech in class. And that made two speeches today. Lauren was just as thrown. Christopher, oddly, looked proud.

"No. No problem," Derek lied. This was going to be a long mission.

* * *

Lauren was sweating, she was so hot I was having a bad time not getting horny. The heat was barely livable. "Do you want some water, babe?" I didn't want to say that, I don't know why did that come out of my mind, Dyson looked at me in the driver's mirror, Lauren turned, her smile widened and took the bottle from my hand, my face was red now. Derek's not so much, he looked at me deeply, he was too close, this was just woo weird.

"Explain." He simply said.

"Erm…I Em…" I could tell Lauren was laughing inside.

Christopher got there first.

"You hooked up with Lauren." It wasn't a question. He looked at me and then at Lauren, but she was on the front side so, that left me alone between them.

Derek didn't look happy. Actually, he looked a little like Dyson when he figured it out. "You touched my daughter?" There's never a good way to answer a girl's father when he asks that question. "You touched my baby girl? I'll kill you."

"Whoa." Christopher stood up. "That's probably not necessary."

"You're a slut. Christopher told me you were." "Fuck you. Both of you. And how do you know I'm a slut?" I replied angrily. Lauren laughing no won the outside too.

"I was pissed when I told you that!" Christopher argued. " She had taken my scotch!"

"I let it go because it was actually your birthday present." He continued. "Huh?" "You were about to turn twenty-one. I bought the scotch for you." "Oh, thanks."

"What are you two talking about?" Derek asked. "And why does this matter? We are discussing my little girl's virtue here." Lauren was laughing out very loud now.

"Don't worry. Bo is one of the good ones." What an odd thing for Christopher to say.

"Actually, you were discussing mine, asshole. And don't delude yourself. She seduced me. So I didn't exactly take your daughter's chastity. It was gone when I got there." Wrong thing to say. Way wrong thing to say. Thank god Lauren intervened.

"That ship sailed a long time ago, Derek..." He was pissed, we wouldn't look at me again for hours.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, I got it out and look at the screen, it was a text, from Lauren. What the… I tried to hide the sceen with my hands and read it.

_I'm gonna suggest Dyson to make a stop soon, I want some time alone with you. L._

I smiled, although I didn't know what she was refering, I didn't want to know anymore secrets, not for now, I was done talking.

_And how do you plan to get rid of them? B._

The phone vibrated again, this time in my hands.

_Pretend to be asleep, and stay in the car, they're starving, it will take them a while to finish. L._

_But I'm starving too! B._

_You'll eat. _

_Is that a command?. _

_Definetely._

So I did as we planned, maybe I was too eager, I don't know if it was too credible that I fell asleep two minutes after I texted the last time.

Half an hour later Dyson parked the car next to a road station. They got out of the car, so did I when they couldn't see me. I needed fresh air. Lauren came back five minutes later.

We climbed in the car. I didn't see anyone around. And no one followed us. It was getting late.

"Are you still laughing ?" I asked. "No." Yes. Lauren climbed into my lap.

"Now shut up." And then she was kissing me. Fingers twisting inmy hair, tongue in my mouth, tits pressed against mine, ass grinding into my lap, kissing me.

I pulled her into the backseat with me. We fell so my feet were still in the front seat and her tits were in my face. Lauren laughed and pulled her shirt over her head.

"Smooth, sweetheart."

"I know." I started unbuttoning her jeans. There was some fumbling and an elbow to my stomach, but we managed to get both our shirts off and her jeans halfway down her ass. She yanked my jeans and got them and one shoe off.

"So fucking romantic," Lauren said. "You talking to my dad."

And then we were both laughing and kissing and I really, really

didn't give a fuck if someone wanted to kill us. Lauren pressed her leg between mine. I arched up to meet her thrusts. Her hands were tangled in my hair, holding me close.

"You know it's kinda hot, right?" Lauren asked. "Huh? No talking. Kiss me." I captured her lips again.

"You're hotter." And then I slid my tongue into her mouth and she stopped talking. Lauren wrapped her arms around my shoulders, lifting my face closer to hers. I pulled her hips close until I could feel her skin everywhere. Just everywhere.

"Touch me, Bo. Come on."

So I pushed my hand between our bodies. She gasped when I slid my fingertips around her clit, lifted her hips so I could slip inside her. The warm grasp of her muscles pulled me in. She moaned into my mouth.

I so loved this girl.

"Come with me?" Lauren asked. I could only nod and stare into her eyes. Fuck, she had beautiful eyes.

When she squeezed my clit, I thought my head was going to come off. And my heart was just going to beat right out of my chest. As I fucked her slow, then hard, and slow again, she just kept rubbing my clit. Too slow to come. Fast enough to keep me waiting, begging on the edge.

Her lips left mine, trailed down my cheek to my ear. Her warm breath tickled my neck. She bit a spot, sucked hard. She was going to come. Soon.

She picked up the pace, increased the pressure on my clit.

And then we were coming. Her hips jerked in my lap. Her fingers twitched on my clit. I lost myself in the feel of her clenching around my fingers. She gasped, moaned in my ear, and collapsed into me.

We stayed like that. I don't know how long. I kissed her hair. Played my hand over her bare back. She kissed my neck, softly, slowly. Like she was falling asleep. But she wasn't.

"Can I ask you something?" I nodded. "What are we?"

"I don't know." I replied, " I only know what you are." She looked at me, puzzled.

"You're my everything, Lauren. And I can be whatever you want me to."

**TBC**


	18. Breaking in

**Hey there! I'm here again. I had an exam yesterday and it was a bitch, so I wasn't in a really good mood when I wrote this, I hope it isn't shit. Enjoy it! And let me know what you think. Thank you! C.**

We were in our motel room in Vegas, outside the city. All of us sitting around a round table, a light shining over our heads, Derek and Dyson's cigarrettes smoke didn't le tus see well, we were like fucking gangsters, yes I'm still a child in the inside. All kind of weapons on the table, there was a map as well, one of the boss mansion. Lauren was drawing like crazy trying to explain all of us the best way to get in.

" Ok, ok, I think I got it, we get in and we attack, that way Evony and their other lackeys come in his rescue. But how the hell are we gonna do that? We're five, they are…like a hundred." Dyson was exaggerating a bit, but he was right, there was no way we would be seen as a real danger.

"Homemade explosives!" Lauren shouted enthusiastically. All our faces where puzzled looking at her.

"What did you just said?" I dared to ask the first.

"Homemade explosives." She repited as she hasn't be loud enough the first time.

"Are you out of your mind?" I kept asking, but Derek looked proud of his 'little girl' and Christopher wasn't so amused anymore, maybe I was just not so badass as I thought.

" I think we should blow different rooms, maybe putting the explosives in the windows in different locations all around the mansion. We don't need to hurt many people, just make a huge mess so they think they're in big trouble, so they call the cavalry." Too many 'so's' in that sentence, too many assumptions.

" I think we need something more." I take Dyson thought the same as I did, too many assumptions. " We need a B plan."

" We can try and talk to the boss, make him call Evony if she doesn't come in the first place. You guys disport the guards, making them follow you to different points. Lauren and I go to his room." I planned.

"There'll be more guards there." Lauren said. " Nothing we cannot take." I replied, but she looked at me worried. " I think we can convince them, they're not thaat clever anyway." Lauren was still worried, but I knew those guys, they would do anything to see a pair of boobs, they would sell their mothers to watch a little girl on girl action.

"Ok…so there's only one problema left." Dyson said ssarcastically. "How do you plan to make the explosives." Lauren smile. "That's my job, little bro," We all look at her. "Is that what they teach you in Yale?" I was astonished. " And don't call me little, I'm your elder brother, show a little respect!" Lauren looked at Dyson and stuck her tongue. "Yes, I took explosives as an optative subject." She was joking, but none of us realized that at first.

"I'm joking dumbasses! I worked with them for years and you blame Yale?" Lauren laughed.

Ok, so we got it, or at least we thought we did. Distraction, get the boss, make them think he's our target. Get Evony, get Nadia, leave them without anything to bribe us with and finally get the fuck out of there. Easy. Well, not that much. Difficult but worthy. Very difficult. Fucking Mission Imposible.

Tomorrow was the S 'n S Day. Storm of shit day, at least that was Dyson called it.

We went to our different rooms quietly, everything was already said and everyone looked inmerse in their thoughts. But all I could care about was Lauren, the worry in her face never faded, but this time was more intense, I only wanted to hold her tight.

"Hey babe, are you ok?" I grabbed her hips and pulled her closer. She nodded and then she hide her face in my shoulder. She wasn't.

"Wanna talk about it? She didn't move, I felt my shoulder get wet, she was crying in silence, she started to sob and I pulled her tighter into me. Then I step back and took my shirt of, I did the same with her slowly, I caressed her arms, looking into he reyes, never leaving them. I pecked her lips and guided her to the bed. I pushed her a bit so she sit on the bed. I dropped to my knees and started undoing her shoes, I took them off. I pushed her again to the bed so she lied almost completely and started undoing her pants, as gente as I could, she didn't move, she was just looking at me. I took off her pants, I kicked off my shoes and did the same with my pants so we were both in underwear. I opened the bed and cover her with the sheets. Then I cover myself and I held her in my arms. I held her tight, she was still crying.

"Everything's gonna be alright, babe." I whispered in her ear. I hoped so. She swallow hard.

"The first day I worked with them…" She started talking, but her voice broke. "I didn't know it wasn't trining anymore." She sobbed. " I was taughted to make explosives, I thought it was a trial, but…" She was already trembling, it hurt me seing her like this, I wanted to kill all of them. "it wasn't, a lot of people died, Bo, innocent people." "shh, it's ok babe, it's not your fault." I was shocked, but she was broken and she'll always come first. "But it's not ok, and it is my fault, I made the explosives, that people had families, they couldn't pay their debts to the family, I thought…there was no one there, I swear."

"Babe, everyone makes mistakes, that doesn't make you a bad person, you're always caring for everyone. They're not who you are, only you can choose that and you chose to stay, to face them, to save her. You chose to leave them, to be free." She was already a bit calmer. "You're the bitch that broke my Gameboy in second grade, the one who made me realize that being a whore wasn't be free, just a slave to my own image who didn't apreciated myself enough. You were the one who taught me I could do better, you taughted me to be strong and take care of the people I love. That's the you I know, that's who you are to me. The elegant, hot, intelligent, gently and caring bitch, but definetely not a killer." It was a bit hard to whisper all of that, but I was still speaking in her shoulder, I didn't want to move.

"I…Thank you Bo." She replied after some minutes, she was already calm enouch to speak.

"Now try to get some sleep babe, don't think anymore or the only thing you're gonna blow is that big brain of yours." I tried to be as tender as I could, I thought that what she needed and that momento I decided that what I was gonna do the rest of my life. Be what she needed me to be.

The next day I woke up next to Lauren, our legs tangled. I needed some fresh air, I was nervous, besides I needed to call for reinforcement. I went to the small room terrace and I lit a cigar, not that I used to smoke, but it felt like that kind of moment.

I took my time before calling, I closed my eyes and tried to convince myself I was back home, that Lauren was safe I we weren't gonna risk our lives in some hours. I didn't work. It had been some months since the last time I could remember the smell of being at home. Yes, I missed the smell, well, the smell, Trick, Kenzi and the others, but I was at home somehow, Lauren was home.

I dialed quickly and swallow.

"Hey, I need your help."

_"What is it, sweetheart?"_

"One of Evony's girl is a friend of us, we're gonna rescue her." I wasn't sure I should trust him, but there wasn't any other way.

_"So, you're telling me you have your girl and millions waiting for you in some kind of summer Paradise and you're still here?" _He was laughing.

"Yes. "

_"How do you plan to do that? Evony's a bitch, but a clever one."_

"I've got it all planned, but I need you to get the information from her."

_"From Evony? Are you crazy kid?"_

"Remember what you said about my money?"

_"Now you said it, I hate that bitch anyway."_

"That's what I thought. I'll text you with the time and place."

I hung the phone and made my way back to the room.

* * *

Three hours later we parked the car, not too far from the door of the mansion, but not close enough to be seen. All were armed from top to bottom, hidden weapons in each pocket, each garment. Less Lauren and me. She preferred her twin guns in the back of her pants and a small knife, closed on her wrist, hidden by a pair of leather bracelets. I was fine with a small gun, and it was hard to hide to me. And my dagger with which I felt Kenzi would be there to protect me.

Lauren had prepared 4 bombs, were very simple, but everything was measured for the explosion caused damage to the mansion but could cause us any damage.

Derek and Christopher would place two bombs on two strategic points of the house, one next to the main room and the other in the back of the mansion, next to a small house in which some of the guards lived. We would not go in using the main door, it was safer to climb the wall, but for this we would have to distract the guards that did the rounds around the fence. That's why Dyson would place another bomb in the main entrance, and then run. We had another bomb for the grand finale, a much larger, but that meant we had no spare pump, I hoped that Lauren knew what he was doing.

We were hunging from the fence, it was hard, my arms were beginning to ache. Lauren seemed fine though. Christopher, on the other hand, kept complaining. We waited a few minutes for Dyson to place the first pump on the entrance and then would jump to the other side and keep on with our part of the plan. At that point there was no turning back.

The noise was higher than expected, it is also true that he had never heard any explosion, maybe some firecrackers at parties. I froze, Lauren was talking to me, it took me a few minutes to react, Lauren grabbed my hand and pulled me up. We started running through the garden. Derek and Christopher ran to their points of attack and hid in the bushes around the house. Lauren and I ran to the back, we decided it was the best place to go, huge windows separating a living room area from the pool. Derek waited there to detonate the second bomb, with Lauren grandfather's gangsters entertained would be much easier to sneak in.

The second bomb exploded, Lauren broke one of the windows with the butt of her gun and cleaned the glass window, leaving me to enter my first. I found sexy, I got hot, I held Lauren by her shirt and kissed her hard. Do not let the kiss last long, we had no time, practically thrust away, otherwise I did not have enough willpower to stop. She took my hand and led me across the room. We climb a small staircase, very different from the large marble staircase that I remembered that connected the main hall with the rooms on the second floor.

I went up first, Lauren took to give me a slap on the laughed, and she. When I reached the bottom of the stairs my head out into the hallway. There were two guards on either side of a massive door, that kind of double doors with golden handles. There was no way to get in without being seen. Lauren was also head out to see the hallway.

"Follow my lead." I frowned, the last time I heard that she threatened to kill herself. She took my hand and guide me through the halllway. She pushed me against a wall and started kissing me. It was a soft but passionate kiss. Her tongue demanded entry, I opened my mouth and she ran her tongue to all the nooks of my mouth. She hold my hands against the wall above my head with one hand, and with the other lifted my shirt and started kissing my neck, bitting. I was sure she had left marks. I did not know what the hell she was doing, but whatever it was she was really good at it. Her body pressed against mine, as if we were alone and she was guiding me to her room.

"Whoah, girls calm down, leave something for us!" I heard one of the guards said. Disgusting.

"Yeah, why do it with another girl when you can have a real man, like us?"

"Hey, have you seen this woman? Do you really think you can do better?" I spatted back, but Lauren looked at me and frowned, not exactly the reaction I was expecting, I realized I wasn't following her plan. In that moment I felt something cold in my hand, she put a siringe in my hand. " Empty it on his neck."

And with that she walk to one of the guys and slid her arms around his neck, pressing her hips against him. It felt like a punch in the stomach, but I did the same with the other guy, trying to be as sexy as I could in that disgusting situation. We looked to each other a nodded. We both took our siringes and stuck them in their necks. They fell to the ground. Lauren took some flanges that she had in one of the pockets of her pants and tied the hands of the guys, she did the same with their feet.

She kissed me again, this time slower, savoring every second our lips melted. My hands trembled in hers. I was scared, not of bombs, guns or those assholes. I was afraid that these were our last kisses. I was afraid of not being able to spend therest of my life with her.

She squeezed my hand tightly, and smiled. I could see her wet eyes, and wrinkles that form on either side of her mouth, like quotes, and she was my favorite verse.

Lauren put her hands on the two handles of the door and opened it wide. We both walked in, my right hand on the grip of my gun.

"Hi, Grandpa."


	19. Bloody goobyes

**Hey guys! I bring you more doccubus gangster style! Let me know what you think, will they be safe soon? Don't know...we'll have to find out. Hope you enjoy this. Thanks for everything! C.**

The boss was alone, thank god for that. I hurried to close the door behind me, now the plan was to wait to Evony came to his rescue.

"Have you decided to join eachother? Clever girl." The boss laughed at us.

"Over my dead body." I was so proud of Lauren.

"It's a shame he could do great things together." Now I was laughing, I looked out of a bad movie dialogue.

"I would say the same to you, Isabeau, you have potential." "Do not call me that, only my grandfather called me that." I knew that was not a smart comment, showing my weakness.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"I still have something that is not yours." I spat.

"Beautiful, you'll have to specify."

We did not say anything, did not want to show our cards.

Suddenly the door opened, it was much softer than the time Lauren opened. On the other side, Evony was followed by their lackeys. She held a gun pointing at Lauren's head, while one of her 'employees' was holding me with a knife much closer to my neck than I would have liked.

"Well, well, what do we have here." She mocked. "the two love birds."

"Cut it Evony." Lauren spatted.

" So, let me get this stragiht, you had the money and the girl, but still you're here, What do you want, a ticket in business to go to hell?"

"You took something from me a long time ago." Lauren said calmy, but I felt like something was burning inside me. What would happen if we find Nadia? The guy who was holding me tried to touch me in a way not too appropriate.

"Stop it, would you? Haven't you realized I don't do guys ?" I yelled at him.

Lauren look at us. "If she has a bruise at the end of this, I kill you." She simply said.

We were lucky they were only two and Evony, now we only had to wait for our guys to arrive, get evony and make the gran finale.

"So, little princess, I get you aren't staying with us? Don't get me wrong, not that I want you to stay, I'd love to see that pretty head of yours in a silver plate."

"Watch it, Evony. She's still my baby granddaughter." The boss said, Evony snorted, she was very pissed.

"I just want to sort everything out and forget about you. Don't follow me, don't follow Bo, if you touch a single hair of her head you'll have to deal with me."

"No." Her grandfather say. " You say I have something that belongs to you, but you have my money."

"It was her mothers!" I shouted.

"It was my daughters, it's my family money, she chose not to be a part of it." The boss continued.

I was starting to get impatient, there's no way we could last too much time like this, not telling them what we really wanted.

"Ok, so, what's this? the worst of the parties I've ever been to?" He asked. " Start speaking clearly or we're done here." Thank god he was interrupted by Derek laughing near the door.

"Hey old man, have you missed me? " He mocked.

" You were supossed to be dead bastard!" The boss was about to have a heart attack. I could tell Evony thought the same by the look in her eyes. "Christopher…he killed you." Another laught from the hallway, this time was Christopher's.

"And I was dead too, by Lauren's hand, wasn't I?" The boss face was red, I had never seen him this pissed.

All of us exchanged glances, the situation could not be more weird. What now? I was waiting for them to take down the guards or something, but instead they were looking to the boss, not even noticing Evony. Suddenly Dyson apeared running into the room, he caught Evony out of guard, held her hands on her back with one hand. The guards ran toward him, but Derek and Christopher reacted in time, hit them from behind, pulling them, they wrestled and got the guys to the ground, Lauren hit one of them in the head with the handle of his gun and I did the same to the other. The guys were unconscious on the floor. There were only the old and Evony, he was not a threat and Dyson had charge of Evony, everything seemed fine, until I heard the shot.

A body hit the ground, I looked around me, and there she was, Lauren was in the floor, blood started to flow. Derek was standing right infront of her, he was in shock, he dropped to his knees.

"My baby girl, you shot my daughter, what have you done…" Lauren had run in the path of the bullet that was meant for his father.

I was rooted to the spot, it was not able to move. Lauren. My life. My baby was lying on the floor, covered in blood. I started to tremble, tears started rolling down my cheeks. It was as if all that was happening around me was far away from me, I did not hear their voices, saw nothing but his body and blood.

"We have to get her out of here , we have to get out . " Dyson cried . The old man was also in shock, did not plan to shoot his granddaughter, but Derek .

Derek grabbed Lauren in his arms, he had to pull it from my arms to move, Dyson pushed Evony outside the room , while Christopher followed them silently with tears in his eyes. I stood there a few seconds , kneeling beside the pool of blood. I staggered up , tears still soaked my face. I picked Lauren's guns from the floor and kept one in the waist of my pants . I held the other with my right hand and I turned around to face the boss. I looked at him with disgust for a few seconds .

" See that? " I pointed to a small box that Christopher had brought with them when they broke into the room. "It's one of the works of your granddaughter . " He looked at me. "I must say I'm impressed with what you've taught to do , but the credit is not yours, but that huge brain of hers. " I continued , "You know ? You should be proud of her , if you know what it is to feel that about someone other than about yourself. " I trembled , there was nothing more I wanted morethan going to her. "She's the smartest girl , prettier and with a heart bigger than your head. "

"That will make this fancy, say something, home explodes, you and all this shit inside". I said kicking one of the guys in the floor. "But I'll give you a choice." "I'm listening." He sounded like he would do anything to get out of here alive, it's a pity that wasn't in my plans.

"You can blow and soil your beauty mansion with your blood, or I can shoot you in the head and finish this quickly."

"I'm not gonna beg."

"That's a pity, I'd love to see that. But you're an old man, and the woman's I love grandfather. So I'll show you that respect. Any last words?"

"Tell her I'm proud." I nodded, And then I did it. I didn't hesitate, this time my morals weren't a problema, it needed to be done, it was the only way my family will be safe.

I ran to the car, they were waiting for me at the other side of the fence, with the engine on, Lauren lying at the back seat.

"What the hell can we do? We take her to the hospital?" Derek shook his head. "What? How's she? Is she ok?"

"Bo calm down please." Dyson said, what the hell was happening?

"The bullet didn't damage any vital organ or artery. I can take it out." "You what?" I looked at Derek my eyes widened.

"I'm a doctor Bo." I nodded. "But we need to take her back to the motel, you take care of Evony and get Nadia, I'll take care of Lauren."

"There's no way I'm leaving her side." "There's nothing you can do here, just be there when she wakes up."

I wasn't convince at all "Where the hell is Evony, by the way?"

Dyson laughed, or at least tried. "In the trunk." I smiled, that thought helped me dealing with the situation.

* * *

Moments later we were in the motel, I helped Dyson carrying Lauren to the bed, she was unconcious.

"Go now, everything is undercontrol, but she won't be waking up anytime soon, just be there when she does, ok?" I nodded, Dyson was standing next to the bed to,looking at Lauren, his jaw clenched. I grabbed his hand and walked out of the room. And there he was, Vex waiting for us outside the door.

"Hello sweetheart, is your little doctor ok?"

"Let's get this shit done." We walked to another room where we had Evony tie to a chair.

"Look at you honey, isn't this just sexy?" Vex loved talking while doing his job. But I knew I wouldn't be able to do it, neither would Dyson.

"Fuck you, Vex" Evony wasn't in the mood for jokes. "What the hell do you want?"

"We can do this fast, or make it last, however you like it honey." Vex continued. "I'm gonna ask you some questions, I want the right answers. One wrong answer, one cut." He play with a knife in his hands.

"Are yo usure about this, Vex? You know what you're messing with." Evony argued.

"Well, you know I was never one for rules. Money is my only boss." "You'll regret this!" "Wrong answer." Vex run the knife touching Evony's cheek.

"Wait! What the hell you want to know?"

"Where is the girl?" Vex asked

"What girl?" "Wrong answer." Vex make a cut in the skin of her abdomen, slowly, the blood started to fall.

"We'll try again. Where's Nadia." "I dont know any Nadia's." "Wrong again." Vex made another cut, this one it was larger, above her boob.

"Try again." "She works for me." "I'm listening." "Fuck you." Vex made another cut, larger, it wasn't pretty.

An hour later we had all the answers we needed and we left Vex to take care of Evony, I knew his methods, I didn't like them but that time I made an exception.

Dyson and I drove to a brothel next to a highway. The room was disgusting , dozens of truckers , bikers, and suits guys drooling over half naked girls who could be their daughters. Most of them did not seem to be of age if you want. She was not anywhere to be seen. We went to a hallway that seemed to lead to the rooms . Dyson and I took our guns and started to open one by one all the doors , finding all kinds of images . Dyson was the one who found her , a guy over her, and she completely naked underneath. Her face was unreadable , she was deteriorated , barely recognizable . It was as if she had aged ten years . Dyson took the guy out of the room and I went over to her, covered it with a shirt on the floor and hugged her with one arm.

" Nadia , I'm Bo, I've come for you ." She began to mourn , saying nothing . " "Lauren is with us , she's been looking for you. " She cried harder . " Are you coming with us? " She nodded. I just talk like that would be best, probably had not heard a kind word in years. Poor girl.

Went to the car once she had dressed , we stopped hugging her all the way , I sat in the back of the car to not leaving her alone at any time.

We got back to the motel, I was dying to see Lauren . Neither of us had said anything all the way. By the time we arrived Vex had already taken off , there was no sign of him or Evony , only blood, blood everywhere, and that was more than enough for me . Dyson took Nadia to his room , I will leave some clothes rop , I gave him a bottle of water and some cheetos , it was the best I had at the time . She fell asleep, Dyson was gonna take care of her , he was sleeping on the couch. I ran into the room where he had left Lauren , Derek was on the couch and Lauren sleeping on the bed.

" How is she? " I whispered to Derek .

" She'll be fine , just needs rest , tomorrow afternoon we can get out of here. Rest now and do not leave her side. " Derek told me and went to the room she shared with Christopher .

I undressed and lay down beside her, kissed her lightly on the lips and I left her a bit , not wanting to hurt her. A few moments later she opened her eyes .

" Hey baby , I'm here , everything's fine , rest . " She tried to move closer. " I 'm not going anywhere. Everything's settled, we found her. " Lauren smiled " Thank you Bo ... " She tried. "Do not talk, rest a bit, tomorrow we're getting out of here , everything's ok now . I'm here . " She moved closer . Lauren closed her eyes again.

" I love you babe ... "


	20. Trouble in paradise

**Hey guys! I'm here again, this will take an unexpected turn, but it will not be the end! I realized I've got a thing with cars... Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for reading and for your reviews. Also thank lostlex for the tips and well, I'll really consider the beta-reader thing, would you be interested? Also thank cheekymadom and Athena64 for the is awesome comments, always there since the first chapter, thank you very much, they're really appreciated and make me keep on writing. And last but not least, J-ru for the comment calling me an amazing writer, well, I know I'm not, but that made my day, so thank you very much. And all the readers for keeping this alive. Enjoy! C.**

_Eighteen Months Later_

"I love kissing you," I said, moving against Lauren's lips. "Kissing you, touching you."

Lauren's mouth moved acrossmy skin, her breath whispering into my ear. "I used to dream of making love to you for so long, since high school."

"I want to make love with you, sleep with you, wake up with you. And make love all over again everyday of my life." She moved her hands, feeling my nipples hard against her palms. "And God, I want my mouth on you," I replied as I found her lips again.

I wasn't sure how—or when—we got to the bedroom, but I didn't hesitate as she pulled Lauren's shirt over her head. The tiny red bikini top, I nearly ripped off, finally exposing Lauren's breasts. I slowly raised my gaze, meeting Lauren's. "I just now realized how many times I envi- sioned you naked when you weren't mine." I smiled, embarrassed by her admission.

"I'm afraid I didn't do you justice."

Lauren reached out and took my hand, bringing it to her body. She pressed my hand against her breast, a soft moan drifting through the room.

I moved closer, both hands covering Lauren's breasts before dipping my head, my lips replacing fingers, my tongue swirling against a taut nipple. I lifted her head, my mouth moving slowly up Lauren's body, loving the taste of her skin, my tongue slipping again into Lauren's hot mouth.

I lost herself in her kisses, our tongues moving wetly against the other, our hands roving idly against flesh.

Then Lauren pulled away, her breathing labored, her eyes dark with desire. "Take this off," she gasped, tugging at my shirt. But my bikini top proved more elusive, and we were soon giggling as it became a twisted mess around me. "My God, does it have a lock or something?" Lauren muttered. I raised her arms, letting Lauren pull it over her head. "Oh, my," she breathed, staring at me. "Beautiful."

But I stopped my exploration, my hands going to Lauren's waist, slipping inside her shorts and urging them down. I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand. I wanted to be naked, I wanted to be on the bed, and God, I wanted Lauren's weight on top of her. "Hurry."

And Lauren did, stripping us both naked in a matter of seconds, then guiding me to the bed. But it was my weight which settled over her, I pushed Lauren's thighs apart with my knee, and my mouth claimed Lauren's breast possessively. I wasn't sure what came over me, but my need to hold Lauren—to kiss her, to touch her, to make love to her—was overwhelming.

I pulled her mouth from Lauren's breast, "The words _I want you _don't seem to express everything I'm feeling right now." I dipped her head again, my tongue raking across a nipple, feeling it harden even more. "But _God_, I want you."

I felt Lauren's thighs move under her, and I burrowed between her legs, my hips moving slowly, grinding against Lauren. She grasped my waist, holding me close as she opened up for me. I could feel the slick wetness against my stomach, could feel the hardness of my own clit as I rocked against Lauren. I wanted to be inside her, wanted to feel her wetness against my fingers, and so I slipped her hand between them, never losing the rhythm they'd set. "God, _yes_," Lauren hissed, arching up to meet me, opening as my fingers thrust into her. She was so wet, like silk between my fingers, but it wasn'tenough . . . I couldn't get nearly close enough. I wanted _all _of her. I withdrew her fingers, hearing the frustration as Lauren groaned at their lack of contact. I covered her mouth with my own, then moved lower, my lips closing around a nipple, sucking it hard into her mouth, feeling Lauren's hips begin to move again as I suckled her breast.

"Please, Bo," she whimpered, reaching for my hand, trying to move it between her thighs again.

"Yes. But I want you to come in my mouth," I whispered, leaving her breast, my mouth moving wetly across her skin. "I want to taste you. I want my tongue inside you." I raised my head again. "I want to make you come with my mouth." I cupped Lauren's hips, urging her legs apart. In the soft glow of the lamp, I saw the glistening wetness that waited for me, felt Lauren writhe beneath me.

"_Please_," Lauren whimpered again. "Love me. _Please_."

My breath caught at that simple word, hearing all it conveyed. At that moment, I realized what Lauren was offering me, at that moment, I realized how deeply I had fallen in love with her—her body, her mind… and her soul.

"_Yes_. I'm going to love you."

Lauren closed her eyes, letting my mouth cover her, my tongue sliding through her wetness, slipping deep inside her as I held her. I moaned, savoring her taste, memorizing the feel of Lauren against my mouth. My tongue snaked out, finding Lauren's clit, teasing her before suck- ing it into my mouth. Lauren's hips bucked, pressing hard against my face and I held her tightly, my tongue moving with light- ning speed as Lauren gasped, her hands tangled in my hair, holding me steady. I felt Lauren's orgasm build, felt her swell against my mouth, felt the throbbing ache between Lauren's thighs. Her short gasps came quickly now, her hips moving wildly against my mouth. I held on tight, at the last instant, my lips closing around Lauren's clit, sucking it hard as she screamed out, my mouth flooded with Lauren's wetness as I rocked against her.

"_Jesus, _that was . . ." She lay spent, her legs still parted, I still nestled between them.

At last, my mouth released her, my tongue moving deliber- ately now, caressing, my lips moving leisurely as I slid back up her body, pausing at her breasts again.

I finally lifted her head, meeting Lauren's eyes. "Epic." Lauren finished.

I woke up to a half-naked Lauren sprawled next to me. One foot was off the bed. The other was playing footsie with me. She had her hand under my ass. Like she'd put it there and fallen back to sleep. It was a common occurrence.

She was wearing a pair of boxer briefs and nothing else. The boxers were tight on her ass and thighs and looked sexy as hell. She was sexy as hell.

I leaned over and kissed her cheek. Then her ear, down her neck, and across her shoulders. She murmured in her sleep.

"Morning, babe." "Mmm-hmm." And she was out again. I climbed out of bed and found a T-shirt. My pj pants were tangled on the floor with our blankets. Also a common occurrence. I padded down to the kitchen. There was a carafe of coffee on the counter. I poured myself a mug and wandered out back.

Hale was reading the paper. Kenzi was on his laptop. "Morning Bobo!" Kenzi called. "You guys want more coffee?" I asked. "Please." Hale replied. "Oh, yeah, my hero."

"Sure." I was still a bit asleep.

I went back in and brought the coffee out with me. Hale held his mug aloft without taking his eyes off the paper.

"Thank you." Kenzi smiled at me as I filled her cup.

"Lauren still asleep?" Hale asked. " ?" "Of course," Kenzi said. "So today's the big day?" she asked. "Yeah, Tamsin said she picked up the—" I stopped talking when the door opened. "Is the coffee out here?" Lauren asked. An empty mug dangled from her hand. "Yeah, sorry." I nodded at the carafe. "Cool." She sauntered out barefoot. Her hair was all messy and sexy. She'd thrown on a pair of her shorts and one of my hoodies. I was guessing there was nothing under the sweatshirt and I really wanted to find out.

Hale pulled out a chunk of the newspaper and handed it to Lauren as she sat down.

"Thanks." She poured some coffee and blew across the top of her mug. Then she opened the paper and proceeded to ignore me for the next thirty minutes.

"Are you guys about ready for breakfast? My stomach is about toe at itself" Kenzi closed her laptop.

"Mmm-hmm." Lauren was still reading the paper. "I'm down. You want help?" I asked. "Just go wake up Dyson." I rolled my eyes and followed Kenzi inside. "Where's Tamsin by the way?" I asked. "She's with Nadia again."Kenzi rolled her eyes. It had been months since Tamsin and that spanish chick broke out. And she had been spending a lotof time with Nadia. It was difficult to have Nadia around at first. We had to explain everything to her, she was shocked, but she reacted well, she came with us, saying she had no life left in the states. At first I was jealous, I knew Lauren loved her, and it hurt. But time passed and we became friends, good ones. And Lauren and I have been together since that day.

"Should I make more coffee?" Hale asked. "Please. Or I'll never get him out of bed." "Tell him I'm making waffles." Kenzi started measuring out more coffee. "Got it." I headed back upstairs. Dyson's room was dark. I pulled open the curtains and he groaned. "Why do you hate me?" he asked from beneath a pile of blankets. "I don't hate you. The sun hates you." "Go the fuck away."

"Are you talking to me or the sun?" I asked. "Please, Bo. Fuck off," he whined. "You don't have a girl under there, do you?" "No. Close the curtains."

"Nope. Gotta wake up and shit."

"Why? I have absolutely no responsibilities." The mound of blankets shifted a little and Dyson's head poked out.

"Kenzi told me to wake you up." "There better be coffee." "And waffles," I said. "Fine. I'll get up. But I don't like you today." "Sure you do. We're gonna be family today." "You're such a fucking tool." Dyson started giggling. "And she still has to say yes." "Oh, she'll say yes." "Just because you're all excited to face the day doesn't mean I have to be." "Good point. But if you sleep, you will miss waffles." "

Damn you and your waffles." "Whatever." I found a pair of sweats on the floor and tosed them at him. "Your loss." "Okay, okay. I'm getting up." Dyson sat up and grabbed the sweats. "You excited?" "Yes. But I'm trying to be cool." He laughed again. "Let me know how that works out." "Fuck off."

I went back down to the kitchen. Kenzi was stirring her waffle batter.

"Is he awake?" "Sort of." "Christ. He's smoking isn't he?"

"Umm..."

"I told him. If he's going to smoke, he needs to do it outside." Kenzi sighed.

I didn't know why he cared. He'd told Dyson not to smoke in the house almost every day since we'd moved in. Dyson hadn't listened once.

"I'm sure if you ask him just one more time, he will listen." "Do you think?" Kenzi looked up from her heating waffle iron. "Totally. The first five hundred times he probably just misunderstood you, but five hundred and one, he will totally get the message." She rolled he reyes.

* * *

"Don't screw it up," Tamsin said. " Where is it?" I asked. "Calm down. Your ring is right here." She tossed me a little wooden box. "But don't screw it up." "I got that the first twenty times you told me." I turned back to the mirror I was preening in front of. I was dressed in a black dress, and a leather jacket, that's how I felt more comfortable with, not the kind of comfortable of a track-suit, but the kind of comfortable that would make a girl think she could have the world in her hand. And that's exactly what I needed.

"Well, clean, shiny Bo is weird. Lauren'll know something is up." Coming from her that was a compliment.

"Something is up." I just answered.

"Don't screw it up."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Tamsin." "Love you," she said. "Same here." "Your boobs look amazing in that dress." "I know." "Go get her." And then she smacked my ass.

I took a deep deep breath, opened the door and went downstairs to meet Lauren.

She looked fucking perfect. Standing there by the front door with the early evening light slanting through the windows onto her nearly bare shoulders.

"I don't know what you guys are up to, but I don't trust it," she said.

"Keep your pants on." I could have lied, but she would have known. "No, wait, don't. Take 'em off."

"I'm not wearing pants. This is a skirt, sweetheart. And we have dinner reservations."

"Oh, yeah. That." "Come on." She held out her hand. "Have fun." We turned and Kenzi was standing there grinning like a tool. Hale was behind her doing the same thing. They'd probably been lurking in the hallway waiting.

"Don't wait up," I said.

Lauren rolled her eyes and pulled me out the door. I brushed my hand over my jacket pocket. Ring was still there.

"Seriously, what is with all of you?" Lauren asked. "It's not really a surprise if I tell you."

As we drove into the city, I tried to focus on the road, but it was difficult. Lauren was like super hot. And she smelled really good. Driving was hard.

We were a course and a glass of wine in when I started to panic. After my second glass of wine, I calmed down a bit. I could do this. We'd finish dinner, take a walk, go to that park we loved. And I'd get down on one knee and ask the girl to marry me. No big.

I did another subtle check for the ring. Still there.

Lauren smiled at me. Oh, yeah. I could do this. I was so going to marry that girl.

We were debating dessert—well, Lauren was debating, I was nodding along—when I glanced away from her. Only for a moment. There were tons of people passing by on the street. It was a warm summer night. But one man seemed to stand out, maybe it was the way he walked. But I knew it was him.

"Oh, fuck." "What?" Lauren turned to see what I was staring at. "I'm sorry. I'll explain later. But I got to go." "What do you mean?" "I have to go. I'm sorry." I dug my wallet out of the inside pocket in my jacket. It caught on the ring box and I had a moment of pure terror. "Fuck. Really, really sorry."

"Bo, what is going on?"

"I'll explain later." I tossed a bundle of cash onto the table and vaulted over the railing onto the sidewalk.

It probably wasn't even him. It wasn't him. It couldn't be. How the fuck had he found me? No, he hadn't found me. It was a freak occurrence. And it didn't matter, 'cause it wasn't going to be him. It was dark and I was seeing shit.

Lauren would be pissed. I would tell her all about it and she would be pissed. But we would laugh about it later. This was what would make the story of proposing tellable. I was halfway through the night when I ran away. Ha ha. But my legs where longer than his and I reached him.

And it was him. He turned a corner and I saw her face. Fuck. I kept going, overzealous stalker style.

What the fuck was Trick doing in Spain?

**Let me know what you think! **


	21. Tricks and threats

**Hey guys! I'm here, this is not too long, but I've got more for you and I'll be as quick as I can. Let me know what you think and all comments and critics are very appreciated! Thank you! C.**

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." At the sound of Lauren's voice, I looked up. She was standing down the street with her arms crossed. She looked livid. "You literally ran away from proposing to me to chase some guy. Fuck you." Then she turned and took off the other direction.

"Wait. You knew I was going to propose?" I asked. "Don't ever play poker, sweetheart."

Trick caught up with us just as Lauren was spinning around. He threw himself into Lauren's arms and they hugged for a long, long time. Like, turning in circles, long time. He had always loved her, he was always very protective over her.

They spun in another circle while I stood there grinning like an idiot. But then I saw something that made me stop smiling, stop breathing, stop everything. High on Tick's back, between his shoulders, I could see the outline of a small box.

The idiot was wearing a wire.

I forced my smile back in place. "Can I get another hug like that?"

"I'm still pissed at you." He let go of Lauren. "But yes." He launched himself at me again. I hugged him tight, tugging at the material of his shirt. Lauren was watching us and smiling. I frowned and looked pointedly down. Lauren was confused, but then she saw what I was looking at.

"Shit," Lauren said. "What?" Trick asked. "Nothing. Just I guess we have some explaining to do." It was a cheap lie, but he fell for it.

"Damn right." Trick let go of me. "There's a bar not far from here." I nodded down the street.

"Let's go there. Sit and talk." "But I want to go see Dyson," Trick said. "I'll text him to meet us, okay?" Lauren lied again.

Lauren pulled her phone out of her purse. She fell back a step to text Dyson. I didn't need to see what she was typing to know what it said. Plan C.

Dyson wouldn't show up at the bar. In under ten minutes, he, Kenzi, Hale, Tamsin, Nadia, Derek and Christopher would be out of the house and on the way to an apartment an hour away from here. Plan C: Run like fucking hell.

A few blocks later, we stopped outside a very noisy and very popular club in downtown.

"This place is kinda loud. Should we go somewhere we can actually talk?"

"We can go upstairs. It's quieter there." I pointed at the upper floor.

He nodded and followed us in.

"Back stairs are this way." Lauren led us to a dark hallway that did not, in fact, lead to the back stairs.

Two girls walked out of the bathroom ahead of us. I nodded as we let them pass. A moment later, we were alone in the very loud hallway. I clamped my hand over Trick's mouth and grabbed his hands. Reese reached under his shirt and peeled away the leads for the wire.

Lauren left the wire and battery on a wide ledge on the wall. It would buy us a few minutes before they—whoever they were— realized that no one was attached to them anymore.

"What the fuck did you do, Trick?" I asked as I pulled him down the back alley to the street.

"I'm sorry. I...they just want to talk to you. Help you out." He tried to pull away, but I tightened my grip on his wrists.

"Keep moving," Lauren said. "Who?" "What do you mean?" Trick asked. "Who sent you?"

"The FBI. They just want to talk to you, I swear." Trick was almost crying now.

"No. Keep walking or I'll carry you." It was another lie. I couldn't carry him. But he didn't know that.

"Why did they send you?" Lauren asked.

"To help bring you home. Those people, your family." He shot a look at Lauren. "They're looking for you. They're not good people Bo."

"If they find us they'll kill us, but they couldn't find us, Trick. Until you led them here." I shot him a look of my own.

"No, they don't know I'm here. They couldn't know." "Why do the Feds want us?"

"To help bring the family down. That's what they told me." "Be quiet for a minute," Lauren said. We were at a street now.

Lauren looked around until she found what she was looking for. An old car, windows down. Too rusty and pathetic to bother stealing. She climbed in the driver's seat. She reached back and popped the locks.

"Get in." I shoved Trick forward. "What? But this isn't your car." he couldn't know that. Except he did. How long had they been watching? "How long have they been following us?" I pushed him into the backseat. He scooted over. I climbed in next to him, still holding his wrists.

"I don't know." "How long have you been following us?" I asked. "I haven't been." "You're a shitty liar." He always had been. "A couple weeks. They just want to help. I just want to help." "Fuck," I said. "Shit." Lauren had her hands so far under the steering column that I could barely see her head. "Are we stealing this car?" He asked. "Trying. Will you be quiet?" Lauren asked. She had half the wires out of the dash now. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the car came to life. Limping, coughing, dying, but life. We took off.

"Please, girls. This isn't who you are. You don't steal cars and hurt people. Just come talk to tha agent. She can help straighten this whole thing out. You can come home."

"We don't live there anymore," Lauren said. She was weaving in and out of traffic. I didn't bother glancing back. I pretty much always figured someone was following us. Lauren would lose them. She was good at that now.

"But you can come back."

"Sorry, not happening. It's not our home." Lauren sounded pissed. She should have been. We'd found whatever peace we could. And Trick had just destroyed it.

"What do you mean? It's home. It'll always be home." "You wouldn't understand," I said.

"Why do the federals know about us?" I asked him, not really wanting to know the answer. " Tell me you didn't tell them, cause I asked Kenzi to explain some things to you."

"No, no, I wasn't, they came to me, something about you blowing the family's mansion, and Lauren being the old man's granddaughter and the heiress. They wanted to find you for being part of a crime organisation, but I told them you weren't like that. They thought you may have a reason to blow the house, so they wanted you on their side, to take them down."

"We already did, the boss is dead, end of the story." I tried, knowing it wasn't really ended. At least that thought made me happy for the last year and a half.

"That's not it, someone has taken charge of it, they're still 'working'." Lauren sighed. We knew it, deep inside.

"Listen, grandpa. If they catch me, I'm going to prison. Not back to Cali. Is that better? You can visit me. I'll always be somewhere you can find me. Behind fucking bars. Is that what you want?"

"It's not like that. Those 'family' people want to kill you. The Feds will protect you."

"They lied," Lauren said. "They don't want to help us. They want to help themselves."

"I'm not some naïve twenty-year-old. I know how this works."

""You're a naïve sixty-year-old, and you're going to get Bo killed," Lauren said.

"That's it. Let me out of the car." Trick said.

We were on a curving country road. It was late. There was no one behind us and no one ahead of us. Lauren pulled the car over.

"Okay. Get out," Lauren said. "What? Here?"

"Out now."

* * *

Fuck!" "Yep," Lauren said. "Fucking stupid asshole!" "Breathing, Bo."

"I don't want to breathe," I said. Lauren shrugged. "We need to contact Dyson." "Yeah, cell phones are in the kitchen." We were in a studio apartment about thirty miles away from the larger safe house where all of them where were. There were two such apartments in Spain because we lived close by. Another was in England. And a fourth in Ireland. We also had a big ass house in Brazil. But only Christopher and Derek had been there. Each had supplies in case we needed to run.

Apparently, we needed to run.

We had ditched our stolen car a few blocks away and walked here. By the time they found the car and tracked down this apartment, we would be gone.

"Got 'em." Lauren walked back into the small room. She tossed me a box and started tearing into a second one.

I left mine on the table and went in search of clothes.

"Hey." Lauren wasn't talking to me so I didn't respond. Instead, I pulled out jeans and a T-shirt for Lauren. Then I found a sweatshirt for each of us.

"No, her grandfather showed up," Lauren said.

"Yeah. We'll be there in a few." She hung up the phone. Keep it short. Just in case.

"Disguises?" I asked. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need to color our hairs." " There's no way I'm doing that." I argued. "Yours is blonde, but mine, how do you think I'd look? No fucking way."

"Ok, do mine, we'll think about what do with yours in the meanwhile."

"Strip and get in the kitchen." I told her, and she did as she was told.

I read the box, seriously, how hard could it be?

"You know I'm only wearing my underwear, right?" "Yes, it's distracting." I didn't look away from the box. She smiled. "I mean, it's cold." "Sorry. I've never done this before."It was true, I was so lost.

"Liar," She said. "Huh?" "Senior year. You died Tamsin's hair blue when she was super drunk and she couldn't stop you." We both laughed, I remembered that, but I was very drunk too.

"Yeah. Now shut up. I'm trying to read."

I started squeezing the contents of the bottle onto her head. Then I started massaging it into her hair.

"Shit." "What?" She asked. "I got it on your ear. Do you think that's bad?" "Probably. Wipe it off." "Let me finish. Then I'll clean you up."

"This isn't supposed to be fun, you know?" "But I'm with you. So it's fun already." I grinned. "Liar."

"Hey, Lauren." "What?" "Marry me?" "Shouldn't you be on one knee, wearing clothing, and not covered in hair color?"

"It's because you're sexier with you hair in red." We laughed. But the girl wanted it, so I slid off the chair and knelt. "Now will you marry me?" Lauren leaned down and kissed me. "Yes."

"Are you just saying that 'cause I'm not wearing a shirt?" "Yes." She kissed me again. "Good enough." I stood and pulled her into a hug.

"Get off." She pushed me away. "I don't want dye all over me and you got ir on your hands." "Fine. But you're gonna marry me?" It seemed like I should make sure. "Yes, Bo, I'm going to marry you." "I win," I said.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "We're on the run now. Try to be serious."

"All right. I'll pretend to be serious." I sighed like it was a big deal. "So, seriously, you're gonna marry me?" She rolled her eyes again. "Fine." I sat in my chair. "How long do I have to keep this crap on?" She asked

"Ummm." I picked up the box again. "Like ten more is totally how I envisioned the night going." "Such a romantic." "I know."

Ten minutes later, Lauren washed her hair in the sink. And then she toweled her hair dry.

She was all sexy and concentrating. I kissed her. Nibbled on her lower lip, tasted the tip of her tongue. I pulled her close. She dropped the towel and kissed me back. Her hands fell to my shoulders and slid down my back.

"Wait. We can't." Lauren pulled away.

"Yeah, we can. I'm chemical free." I showed her my now clean hands andI backed her against the counter.

"No, we need to get out of here. Like an hour ago." "An hour ago we weren't even here." "Exactly," she said. "Damn."

"Whoever the hell is after us could be here anytime." "Okay, let's go."

I put my pants back on. Lauren lost the skirt and I lost my resolve. But then she gave me a scary look so I let her put some jeans on. Lauren exchanged her top for the T-shirt I'd pulled out. We pocketed our new phones. She grabbed a set of keys from the kitchen. After studying the street out the windows for a full five minutes, we went out the door. Lauren was in the middle of locking it when I stopped her.

"Shit, wait." "What now?" "Your ring. I got you a fuckin' awesome ring. It's inside. In my jacket pocket." She managed to glare and laugh at the same time. But she opened the door back up. I ran in, grabbed the little wooden box, and ran back out.

"Do I know how to propose or what?" I asked. "Yeah, you're really suave." "I know." "You're driving." Lauren tossed me the car keys. "Okay, why?"

"Because I want to stare at my new ring."

**Sorry this was short, it gets better, I promise.**


	22. Come with me

**Hey guys! I'm here again! What the hell has Trick done? Will they run? Well, let find out what happens! Hope you like this and thank you for reading, and your comments are awesome! C. **

We climbed in the car. I didn't see anyone around. And no one followed us. It was getting late. Any tail would have been obvious. "I think we're in the clear." Lauren didn't say anything. I spared her a glance. She was cradling the ring box and it looked like she was crying. "Are you crying?" I asked. "No." Yes. "Pull over." I did. Lauren popped both our seat belts and climbed into my lap. "I guess you like it?" "Shut up." And then she was kissing me. Fingers twisting in my hair, tongue in my mouth, tits pressed against mine, ass grinding into my lap, kissing me.

We could ditch the cops later.

The heat and warmth of Lauren's mouth against my skin seemed to spread from my chest out to every inch of my body. With every gentle lap and hard suck, I got wetter, more needy. Her hands were at my hips holding me still. Her fingertips dug into my flesh.

I wanted to push up, to put her under me and thrust until I came. But I didn't. I couldn't. I just let her kiss down to my bellybutton and back up to my lips. Her hands never moved. It wasn't until I groaned into her mouth that she smiled and unbuttoned my jeans again.

"Please, Lauren," I whispered. "Shhh, soon, sweetheart." Just the sound of her voice made my heart pound. I knew the promise of that tone. I'd missed the sound of her voice when she was getting ready to take me. How easy she made it to let her.

She started to kiss me again. Her tongue traced my bottom lip, the inside of my mouth. It was distracting. But not distracting enough to draw my attention away from the subtle vibration as she unzipped my jeans. I lifted my hips so she could tug my thong down. She scraped her fingernails up my thigh, down the other, teasing me, promising me. I whimpered when she finally slid between my folds. Her now slick fingers dragged through my heat.

Her mouth never left mine. Even as my breathing got rough. Everything, every sensation in my body was reduced to the glide of her fingers over my clit and her lips against mine. She edged my underwear further down, pressed two fingers low enough to enter me. But then she waited. I lifted my hips and pushed against her hand.

When she went inside me, I moaned. Loudly. "Oh God, you feel so fucking good," She murmured. "Don't stop. Please." She eased out, then back in. "Oh, fuck. Harder, please, harder." Lauren moved her hand faster. I could hear the wet sucking sound of her fingers buried in my cunt. I grabbed the back of her neck, pulled her closer. Her mouth was at my throat. The rush of her breathing filled my ear.

I spread my legs wider, arched into her thrusts. "Lauren, I'm gonna come." She just groaned and kept fucking me until I came. I felt the tremble and pull of my muscles grasping her fingers as she nursed every small contraction from me that she could until I shuddered and she slumped on top of me. Her weight felt good, right. We rested our foreheads againts each other's, I was making love with my fiance, and that sounded great.

We were tangled into each other in the backseat, sweaty and naked. "We have to go, babe." She whispered into my ear, brushing her nose against the skin on my neck. "Just five more minutes." "Babe, we can't." "uhm…"

Thirty minutes later.

"Babe, put some cothes on or those cops will find us just like this, and those are mine." Lauren said looking to my breast. I giggled and started dressing up, she did the same, but we couldn't keep our eyes from eachother.

We drove in silence, well, I was driving, her hand over mine on the shifter, stroking the back of my hand with the tips of her fingers. I didn't accelerate too much, I wanted to go unnoticed and took some detours in the city, avoiding attract anyone towards our destination. Anyone, because it seemed everyone in this world that was chasing us.

We arrived to our destination. Thank god, I was tired, too many emotions for a day.

"Holy fuck." Kenzi yanked us inside and shut the door. "They're here," she called. And then she pulled us into a group hug.

Dyson and Tamsin came into the room. They waited until we were done hugging Kenzi, then they hugged us too in their way.

"What happened?" Dyson asked.

"Trick showed up. We were having dinner and I looked up and he was walking down the street. So I followed him."

"But why did we need to run?" Tamsin asked.

"Feds sent him in. I saw the wire when he hugged Lauren. He wanted us to come home, he thought he would be helping us. I need coffee. Do we have coffee?" I moved past them into the small kitchen. There was a pot of coffee waiting. I poured a mug. When I turned around, Kenzi, Dyson, Tamsin and Hale were all crammed into the doorway. Dyson was practically vibrating.

"Why the hell would the Feds send in your grandfather?" Tamsin asked again. Not a question I wanted to answer. Really, really not a question I wanted to answer. I had a pretty good idea of why the Feds would resort to the fuckin' low move of sending inmy grandpa.

"I knew this was gonna happen." Lauren said from behind them. They all spun to face her. "What the fuck?" Dyson. "Why did you not tell us?" Tamsin. "Damn it." Kenzi. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she continued. "My God." Hale. "Shut the fuck up, all of you. Listen to her!" I tried to help.

"How could you not tell us that?" Dyson asked. "I didn't want you guys to worry," Lauren said. They spun comically. This was getting ridiculous. Lauren pushed through the doorway and perched on the counter. I poured her a cup of coffee.

"That's why I suggested we get new passports." It was true, she told us to when we got there. "Chill." Lauren said.

"Chill?" Tamsin didn't seem to want to chill. "If you didn't change them before you left the states, then they were able to tell you disappeared in Spain. You led them to us." "Fuck off. Spain is big. Needle in a haystack." Lauren waved her off. Kenzi started cursing in russian. Tamsin and Dyson did in English, Hale just looked to the floor thoughtfully. "What the hell do you understand by big? Thank god Bo's not a guy." Tamsin spatted. I tried not to laugh, Kenzi couldn't stop herself.

"Guys, calm down," I said.

"She's right," Hale said. Tamsin and Kenzi looked at him like he'd lost it. "We can yell later. Right now we need to figure out what to do. I don't like running. When is this going to stop? When they get the money back from us and kill Lauren? Or when they end up in jail?" Everyone shut up and listen to him, I could feel Lauren tensed hearing his words so I pulled her closer to me.

"Any ideas?"

"The Feds have been watching us for weeks?" Hale asked. "I guess." I shrugged. "Sounded like it." "So they know what Tamsin, Hale and I look like and that we are involved?" Kenzi asked. "Shit." Lauren. I knew she felt guilty, I felt it too.

"Fuck." Dyson.

"And they also know by now that we left. They may have even followed us. They could be outside right now." Hale pointed at the front door.

Kenzi's eyes got wide. Not a big fan of cops. "Fuck that." She ran back into the living room, grabbed her backpack, ran back to the kitchen, and started to muscle the window open. We were on the third floor. Not smart.

"Kenzi, stop." I grabbed her and pulled her away. She was wrestling. "Don't be a dumbass."

"No, Bo. We gotta go." She pushed me aside and started to shove her bag out the window.

"Think, if they knew we would be arrested by know. They lost us. Besides we're on the third floor Kenzi." I tried to convince her.

"I say we stay, do you really wanna give up this life?" I continued. No one said a thing. "We'll have to face this sometime. You don't know how guilty I feel for bringing you all into this." Lauren said. "But we're gonna fight. The cops offered us to help them. I will."

"Are you out of your mind?" Kenzi and Dyson said at the same time. I widened my eyes and looked at her, thinking the same they said.

"I'll help them if that means you'll be safe and they won't get any of you involved." Lauren said firmly. "And the same goes for you." She said to me. "I'm already involved and there's no way I'm letting you go again, I've already told you. If you go, I go." I argued.

"Me too." Dyson agreed. "No, not you, you're already safe, and you're the only one who can take care of the others, you've been there, runing with us." I almost ordered him. Dyson didn't say a thing, he didn't nod but I knew he would do as I told him.

Kenzi was shooking her head, her eyes in tears. " No. No, you can't do that. You trust the cops? They'll use you, put you in danger and then in jail, or worst, they may let you die." I'm not risking you. I say we all run away."

"This is not a negotiation." Lauren said. This girl could be really stubborn. "Exactly." I said. "It goes for you as well." "What?" You're fucking my fiancee. I will not let you go on a suicide mission by your own."

"Come again?" Kenzi yelled. All of them looking at us, their worried faces turned into big smiles. I took Lauren hand and forgot about the whole mess for just a momento, we turned to them, "We're getting married." She almost shouted. I nodded at them who were now looking at me. "She finally said yes." Lauren turn to me questioningly. "They all knew, they've helped, a lot. They've made it possible." She looked to them with the biggest smile I've ever seen in her face.

"And know we're gonna make that wedding of yours possible." Kenzi grinned. "Just some little things to sort out like the FBI, not biggie." We laughed, it was the nervous kind of laugh.

"Guys, I don't wanna ruin the moment, but it's been a lot since the last time I've heard from Nadia, she was supossed to come here with us, but still nothing." Tamsin sounded really worried, that girl could be very different when she was not busy being bitchy.

"She might need some time to think, you know she hasn't been the same since, well,…sometimes she just needs time." Lauren tried to comfort her, but gave me a worried look at the same time.

All the gang looked restless, all of them playing with their cups of coffee, resting their head son their hands, well, Kenzi was resting her whole body against Hale's. I felt responsable of them, I needed to think something quick before Lauren did.

"Well, this is what we're gonna do. Go to sleep, close every window, and yes, that's for you kenz. Do not lit any light next to a window either, don't make loud noises. And yes, that's for you Lauren." All laughed, well, not Lauren. "Excuse me? It's not me who begs!" "TMI!" Kenzi seemed to wake up. "Kenzi, don't blow the fun!" Tamsin scolded her.

"As I was saying, we won't get out of the house if it isn't completely necessary, and we'll find Nadia. That's our first concern now." Tamsin smiled at me weakly. " Get some rest, we'll figure it out later. We're not running this time, no one's going to jail, and I am absolutely sure that no one will die." I tried to sound more convinced that I was. "Good night, guys." I grubbed Lauren's hand and we made our way out of the living room and to one of the bedrooms in the same floor. I closed the door behind me.

* * *

"I know what you're doing." Lauren spatted. She was angry, like very. "They might be naive enough to belive that but you're playing me, that's my roll and I know better than you how to play it, do you think I wouldn't realized that was a goodbye speech?" She was talking so fast it was almost difficutl to understand her.

"Lauren, we need to sort this out somehow, I don't want a life running, and I'm sure as hell I don't want that for any of you." "I was the one who bring you to this situation, it's my job to get you out, not yours. You believed you could get out in the middle of the night, go see the cops and leave us behind, maybe not see me again." She cried. She had caught me, and there was no point in denying it.

"It's for the best and you know it, fuck, I'm sure you planned on doing the same!" She looked intensily in my eyes, her jaw clenched. I felt empty for the first time in more than a year. For some time I thought we had made it, that we wouldn't be having anymore trouble.

"Of course I was, I still am. You're staying with them, making sure they're safe!" That's when I noticed, she was as concerned as I was about the family. " Do you think they're still working even with your grandfather out of it?" "Yeah, those cops are looking for something and it's not only us, they wanted information, they could have arrested us the day they sent Trick, so, my best guess is that someone took charge of the whole thing."

I nodded, thinking, that made a lot of sense, but also meant nothing was over, and that wasn't looking pretty. "Yeah, but who? Any other family members I should know about?" Lauren shook her head. " With that bitch dead, there's no one close enough to my grandfather." She looked thoughtful. "Well, I guess I'll be figuring out soon." She ended.

"No fucking way Lauren, over my dead body." I stated. "I'd love to be over you body, but it's too beautiful to die, and that's exactly my point." She played. She was unbottoning her shirt, looked promising I shook my head, still looking to the skin she was starting to reveal with her moves.

"Looks like I'll have to tie you." Lauren teased, letting her shit hit the ground, then she undid her jeans, not taking them off, and unclasped her bra. She was walking very slowly towards me, letting me see the whole scene. " And that won't be pretty for you." She continued. She threw me to the bed. "If you think you'll convince me with sex you're so wrong. Babe, you make me crazy, but not that literally." She kissed me strongly, pushing her tongue inside my mouth.

I didn't wait, she was still wearing her jeans, but I slipped my hand in her underwear, quickly pushing three fingers inside her cunt, curling them as fast as I could, she moaned very loud. She kept her mouth pressed to mine, our touches weren't gente, just needy. I hadn't stopped wanting this woman for a minute. She was undressing me as fast as she could with my hand between her legs, she bite me, sucked me and kiss me on every inch she discovered by ripping my clothes. In matter of seconds we were both naked, she still in my lap, riding my fingers. My wet hand slipped in and out the whole time, not really being able to build a proper rhythm, it was too passionate, too hard. But it was the way we both need it, to posses each other, maybe that kept alive the illusion that we could kept eachother from the rest of the world, from this whole mess our lives turned into.

"Come with me." Lauren whispered to my ear. I pressed my hips to hers. "Almost there…" I replied to her ear, kissing the skin below. "I'll go with you till the end of the world." I continued. "Don't leave me." My voice softened every second. Her eyes were wet. "We're on this together." We didn't even make it to the orgasm. She had started crying, and I was too weak to move. "Bo, I'm scared… I can't think about loosing you, I'm just…tired of all of this." She cried. "I know babe, but we have to be strong, we don't want our family in trouble, sometime soon we'll be married, living in one of those fancy houses with a white fence, Kenzi would be eating all our food in the kitchen and Tamsin and Dyson would be teaching our children something you would not approve at all, and Hale, well, he would be a great uncle, buying them hats and shit." I could keep talking, but she changed her expresión so I stopped. "You want kids?" I could tell she was surprised. "Yeah, well, I want a real life with you, that's all." She pecked my lips. "We just need to keep them out of danger." She nodded. "Together?" I tried, not really convinved she would give in. "Yes, but Bo, promise me." "What is it babe?" "Promise me you'll be ok no matter what happens." I didn't reply, just kissed her.

Nothing else needed to be said, I set the alarm clock so we'd wake up first, and make our way out of the house with anyone trying to stop us, it was already hard enough this way. Our bodies tangled into eachother, our faces almost melting, I could feel our tears wetting our skins, our lips just inches apart. Any other day I would find this uncomfortable, but right in that moment I wanted to feel Lauren all over me. I wanted her smell, her taste and her warmth.

**Let me know what you think! **


	23. Cuffed

**Hey there! I'm here again, this is a bit short but I hope you like it as well. I want to thank J-ru to keep making me blush, but make yourself an account, and that's an order :P I want to be able to reply those awesome comments! Hope you like it, and shit's about to come, just saying.! Thank you for everything! C.**

Airport was our best choice, we knew that would be the quicker way, pretend to be running away to get caught. Besides they would want to takes us back to the states to whatever they wanted us for, so, why not making things easier.

I was cuffed to a not-very-talkative FBI who looked like she could keep me from running with very minimal effort. So I thought the cuffs were a little bit much. I was also wondering what her plan was if either of us had to pee. That questioned was answered when her partner joined us. He was even less talkative. As planned they told us we were gonna be taken back 'home' where we would be more useful. We did as we were ordered, not a word in the whole airport thing, Lauren was a bit upset. I knew this was't her plans, me cuffed, but still I would have loved to make her feel better, but she wouldn't talk.

I slept for most of the flight. I hadn't gotten much sleep, and I like sleep. Plus, I wasn't sure how comfy prison beds were, but I was betting this plane was better than that. Better to get as much sleep now as I could. At least here I was protected by guard dogs. I didn't think I was going to do very well in prison. Yes I know, very recurrent thoughts about prison even when that was not in our plans. But Kenzi…god, that girl could get into anyone's head. 

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the flight, the agents who were sitting at both sides of Lauren and me had fallen asleep. With my hands still cuffed, I started stroking Lauren 's thigh , moving my hand towards the inner part of it, raising it slowly, trying not to make noise with handcuffs . I pressed my fingers over the seam of his pants at his crotch. she gave a little jump .

"What the hell are you doing? " She whispered . "By making this flight a little more interesting , I get bored , and you know I can not be around you without touching you . "

" Bo, we're going to get in trouble . " I looked sarcastically. " More ? " I kept fingering her through her pants. She spread her legs a bit , leaving me more space. I took the time to raise your hand and pull down slowly the zipper , taking my hand as far as I could with the wives , which was not much , but enough to be able to touch her clit , circling over it , squeezing more and more strong , building a rhythm. I pulled my mouth to her neck and kissed him , caressing his skin with the tip of my tongue .

"Imagine my tongue is fucking you . " She trembled , was having a hard time to keep from moaning . The situation was arousing her more than I thought.

"Who knew that good , nerdy , classy Lauren would be cumming in my hand handcuffed ? " She growled , I pressed my fingers a few more times until finally I felt relaxed and my fingers were getting wet even more. One of the officers shifted, I was frozen, but he was still asleep. I pulled the fingers of his pants and took them to my mouth, I licked to clean them, tasting, moaning. I took her face in my hands the best I could and kissed her hard, thrusting my tongue into her mouth, letting her savor herself in my mouth, causing another moan.

* * *

At the airport, we were taken to a waiting undercover cop-type car. It looked very similar to the cars Vito was so fond of. American, big, dark. I thought that was a little ironic.

They didn't book us, but they gave us a change of clothes and a toothbrush. I thought that was nice of them. But I still didn't like them very much. I really didn't like them when they put me in an interrogation room, when they separated us, I guess I should have expected that, but still it felt wrong, it made me nervous. The chairs were uncomfortable. And it smelled funky. Stale, like old sweat, which didn't bode well for me. Also faintly of fast food. Which made me hungry and nauseous at the same time. There was a massive mirror facing me. I thought they only had those in cop shows, but apparently not. I turned my chair to the side to give 'em my gorgeous profile, and shut my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep because when the door opened, my back felt like it was bruised from the chair and my foot was numb and tingly. A cop tossed in a fast food bag. I decided to be cool and sit up slowly. There was a burger and fries inside.

"What? No ketchup?" I asked. The guy shut the door. I was starving. I seriously considered eating the burger but I didn't want them to think I needed them.

Some time went by. I didn't know how long. Long enough to know I really didn't like interrogation rooms.

The door opened again. It was a woman this time. She was in a suit. A nice suit. A guy's suit tailored to fit her slightly muscular frame. She was old. Or what I considered old. Maybe in her late forties. Short hair. No makeup.

Smooth. Send in a dyke to get the little dyke to talk. That had to be a new method. How progressive.

"Hello, Isabeau. I'm Agent Ogilvy." Wait, as in Tamsin's foster mother? Oh god, I only hope I'm not right, or maybe she inherit her father's personallity? Anyway, Fuck. She sat across from me. "Bo," I said. "Excuse me?" "My grandfather is the only one who calls me Isabeau."

"All right, Bo, then. Are you still hungry?" She turned to the mirror and made a gesture.

Was this good cop? I didn't like good cop. I was thinking I really wouldn't like bad cop.

"I don't really care about food right now. I'll grab something once I get the fuck out of here."

"All right. Just answer my questions and that can be arranged. I would like to come to an agreement. You help me, I help you."

"I don't really feel like talking."

"Why not?" I imitated Lauren and glared. "Your friend Lauren is singing right now." Ogilvy raised her eyebrows as if she had just given me an awesome reason to talk. I smiled. "I bet she is. She's my fiancee, byt he way." Ok, maybe that was already talking, I'd love to be as clever as Lauren in this kind of moments. I kept wondering how she would be doing. It worried me, like a lot.

It was brief. The smallest break in her smiling façade. I started laughing. "Darlin'"—she really didn't like it when I called her that—"you may as well let us go." Ogilvy made a sad face. "I don't see that happening anytime soon." "Sure it will. You haven't charged me with anything. So I'm thinking you can't hold me for that long." "Would you prefer I charge you?" "With what?" Not a question I should have asked. She stared me down. Hard. Fuck. This bitch was good cop and bad cop. Scary. This was the not good cop asking.

The door opened and a guy in a suit came in. Same dude who had stared me down on the flight. He was carrying a box.

Ogilvy waited until he set it down. Then she lifted out a laptop. She clicked some shit and turned it to face me. Guard dog pulled out some other shit. My old Chucks in an evidence bag. He set those on the far edge of the table. Then he set out three photos. Mug shots. On the other end of the table, he set five stacks of photos. Each from a different folder.

Ogilvy hit enter on the laptop and they left. Left me with a video of myself shooting a guy, the night I killed Tommy. The video was on loop. I tried to be cool like I didn't give a fuck about the pictures. But I was curious. And if the rest of their evidence against me was half as good as this, we wer so fucking screwed. I questioned if they had videos of Lauren too.

The other stacks of photos weren't great either. But they weren't horrible. Evony and her merry band of thugs.

The video was the worst part. But assault in Vegas. That was like jaywalking anywhere else. Probably only got you a ticket.

Okay, maybe not. But I wasn't going to sweat this shit. Decent lawyer could probably spin it as self-defense.

I was feeling pretty decent about my self-defense, bare-knuckle boxing addiction, bad friends excuse. So good that when Ogilvy and her thug came back in, I smiled at them.

"Ready to let me go?" I asked.

"As soon as we get our questions answered." Ogilvy spun the laptop and did some more clicking. Thug boy packed up the photos. Then he started putting out new ones. Oh great, time for a repeat. This time there were more evidence bags. And they all had bullets and shells. I wasn't liking the look of this shit.

"I didn't hear a question yet. Besides,you'll get answers if you let Lauren go. Where is she?"

"You know there's no way we can do that."

" I want a lawyer." I tried to play it cool for some more minutes. I was there to confess anyway, and get all this shit done as soon as possible, but every new photo she showed me I was a step nearer to believe I'd never be free again.

* * *

She had left the room to let me rethink everything, how tipical. "Hey, Ogilvy," I shouted to no one. "Fuck the lawyer. I'll answer your damn questions." And the truth was I missed Lauren, I couldn't stand another fucking minute away from her.

She kept me waiting. I didn't shout again. I'd made my move. I wasn't going to beg for an audience. Time started doing that weird thing again where I couldn't tell how much of it had passed. When the door finally opened, I had to fight every instinct that told me to run, to fight my way out of there.

"You said you wanted to speak with me?" Ogilvy asked. "Yeah, I'll answer your questions." She smiled. One of her minions came in and packed away the evidence. Then left me in that airless room with her. Ogilvy sat down. Folded her hands on the table. "I would like you to tell me everything there is to know about 'the family'."

"That's it?" "Yes." "You'll let me go?" "I didn't say that." Bitch. "Yeah, you did. I answer your questions I get to leave." "If you only answer my questions, then I can arrange for some leniency in your case. Or maybe your friend's" "Blow me. But about my friends, I don't want you to touch any of them, the same goes for Lauren" I crossed my arms, shut my eyes, and reclined in my chair.

"The family want you dead, don't they?" " They are the ones who are dead, end of the story." "Are yo usure about that? If we arrest you, put you in lockup, how long do you think you'll last? Will you even make it to trial?" I opened my eyes but didn't sit up. "Have you seen this face? I'm fucking hot. Someone will want to keep me alive." "That's it? Pretty people get farther in life?" Ok, I wasn't thinking a fucking word I was saying so I didn't really know how to defend my theory.

"I can arrange to make this all go away, but I'll need more than information." She tried again.

"Darlin', just tell me what you want," I said with a sigh.

"I want to put the family out of business. If the information that you have is enough—which I doubt—then you can go. But if I need more, then I want you to go back to the family. Gain their trust. And bring me enough to take them down."

I thought about that. There was only one slight problem. " Yeah, of course, why not, I don't see the problem, I was the one who killed the old man and got the second bitch in charge killed too.I go back, Vito will kill me."

"Not if we give you something to make them trust you." "There's nothing that will make them trust me," I said. "Are you aware that some woman called Evony's alive? She has put a contract on your fiancees head?" she asked. Evony was fucking alive? I really thought I would neves killed anyone again the day I kill the boss, but this…I'm so gonna kill Vex, the fucking bastard! I didn't know how to react, but kept trying to play it cool, I've always thought that was the best option. "Not really surprising." I simply replied.

"All we need to do is release reports that Lauren has been killed and that you are sought for questioning. You go to the Evony and demand payment."

"You're fucking insane," I said. Ogilvy smiled. "What do you say?" "I want immunity." "That can be arranged." "And I want to see Lauren." Even though Lauren would probably kick my ass. "I'll think about it." Bitch. "They get immunity too." I thought about that, then added,

"For anything they might have inadvertently done. And I want a guy, Vex, in prison for the rest of his perverted life, I'll give you prove." "That's reasonable." I reached across the table and offered my hand. I didn't know if she had any honor, but I did. It was all I could offer. Ogilvy shook my hand.

What the fuck did I just get myself into?

**Let me know what you think!;)**


	24. Things needed to be said

**Hey guys! I'm here again! This chapter has a little bit of everything, or at least I tried. Thank you for reading this little piece of my mind! Hope you enjoy it, and all kind of comments and critics are really appreciated! C.**

A cop led me into a conference room of sorts. Lauren was already seated. Ogilvy and other Feds sat across from her. "Fuck." Trick was there and jumped out of his seat to hug me, but Lauren moved faster. I wrapped my arms around Lauren, and Trick wrapped his arms around both of us with an apologetical look.

"Did they give you immunity?" I whispered to Lauren. "Yeah," She said. Trick smiled at me and walked out of the room as he was ordered by the agent. "Let's do this." We let go, but as soon as we sat down, Lauren grabbed one of my hands. "Are we ready?" Ogilvy asked. "Yep," I said. She nodded. "This is my partner." Ogilvy pointed to the only other chick Fed. She was kinda hot in that angry, straight girl way. Like she knew more than she was supposed to about the world. Both had pads of paper to take notes, which seemed a little pointless because they were videotaping the interview.

"Please, state your names for the record," The other agent said.

I was feeling less than forthcoming so I smiled and said, "I'm Cameron Díaz. And of course you know Drew Barrymore." I nodded at Lauren and pointed to her hair, now died in red. She started laughing so hard they nearly fell out of her chair. "And yes, we're Charlie's angels." I nodded triying to look as serious as I could. Lauren stopped laughing. "Are you saying that cause I died my hair?" She tried to look pissed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said. "This is uhm…Marilyn Monroe and I'm J.F Kennedy." Lauren started howling again. She smacked me with the back of her free hand. "Hey, that means I'm not exactly your wife!"

"Oh, my bad."

"May I remind the two of you about the seriousness of this situation?" Ogilvy said.

I tried to force my face to make a serious expression. It didn't work. Lauren failed also.

"Okay, we're sorry," Lauren said. "For the record..." The agents seemed to lean forward collectively. Dumbasses. "I'm Marie, this is my husband Pière Curie." She had to be nerdy even for this.

"Great, now I'm a guy," I giggled.

Ogilvy stood. "This is not a joke. If you refuse to help us, you will be in violation of the immunity agreement that all of you signed. And I will take pleasure in booking you myself." She wasn't shouting. She didn't need to. There was something terrifying and honest in her gaze.

I sighed. Lauren glared. "My name is Isabeau Dennis." "I'm Lauren Lewis."

The interview got really fucking boring after that. Ogilvy had a big board with pictures of the familly club. We got to go through the whole thing so Lauren could clarify familial connections.

We were happy to testify to Vito's multiple attempted kidnappings of the siblings. And his threat to murder Dyson. But that didn't seem to rock anyone's world. In fact, they seemed a little bored. Maybe it was because they already had a video of Vito kidnapping someone at gunpoint. And that video ended with me shooting Vito's assistant.

We took a fifteen-minute break. I decided I should really take up smoking. Lauren looked like she wanted her own brand of cigarette. Tough.

The rest of the morning was dedicated to Evony. Apparently, she was a big deal or something.

I only had one thing to contribute. "She is a fucking sociopath."

"Yes, we've considered that," Ogilvy said diplomatically. "No, really. Psychotic motherfucker," I said. "Total cunt too" Lauren said. "For real. Major asshole. And she's crazy as fuck" I kept saying. "She also has a very shrewd business sense," Ogilvy said. "As you know, Evony comes from a long line of—" "Are you really going to give us my family history?" Lauren asked. She was bored but I was surprised by hearing the 'my' in that sentence. Time to pick a fight. "Sorry, I was going to say that Evony has deviated quite a bit from the way her predecessors conducted business,"She continued. "Hmm." Lauren cocked her head to the side. "What?" I asked her. "Shee's right. She broke all the rules."

"Tricky bitch." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Our family runs drugs. Our great-grandfather got his start during prohibition. When prohibition ended, he used the contacts he had to expand into the drug business. The family was small time then, but by the sixties, my grandfather had made a name for himself. But it was always in drugs." Lauren shook her head.

I stared at her. Damn, the girl could write a history book on her family.

"But now we run guns, girls, and who knows what the fuck else," She ended. I noticed she said 'we', again.

"That doesn't even make sense," I said.

"I know. That's the problem. Evony has moved into territory that doesn't belong to us," Lauren said. That wasn't exactly what I meant, I was thinking about the 'we' thing.

"Let's focus." Ogilvy. "Please.". "Sorry," I said. "Evony has moved into new territory, as you say." The other agent tried to get the conversation back on track. "But she managed to do it without incurring the wrath of those who own the territory,". "How?" Lauren asked. "Planning," Florence said. "No shit, Sherlock" I said. "What?" Lauren looked lost. "I got to know her a bit. She plans everything, even her shoes for every day of the week." I simply said.

"I mean, since she was a teenager, at least in her early twenties." The agent kept talking. "In college she took Russian and Ukrainian. She also appears to have a working knowledge of a handful of other Eastern European languages. For the business, you know."

"Your ex is fucking crazy," I told the Lauren. "Let's pretend that never happened." She said not looking at me.

We broke for lunch. Ogilvy actually asked what we wanted this time. It was the first real meal I'd had in two days. It was the best meal of my life.

The rest of the afternoon was a detailed look at the guys from the morning. That evening was dedicated to Evony. Again. I was so tired of that chick. What the Feds really wanted was some sort of confession. They had circumstantial evidence to tie her to a handful of crimes. If we could manage a little more evidence on any of those crimes, it would be enough to put her away.

"When are we going to be done here? This isn't getting your investigation anywhere so I know you're sending my ass to Chicago. I'm tired of waiting." That was when the room went still.

"Chicago?" Lauren asked.

"Uhh, yeah. We haven't given them any earth shattering information. And that was the agreement. And Evony's there, so…" I realized as I was saying it that Ogilvy hadn't shared the entire agreement with Lauren. This was going to be bad.

"The agreement was information for immunity," Lauren said. She looked at me, then Ogilvy, then back to me.

"You didn't tell her about the deal you offered me?" I asked Ogilvy.

"Why would I?" she asked. "What the fuck is going on?" She asked. "The deal Ogilvy offered me was contingent on enough information to arrest the boss's lieutenants. Evony and Vito would be ideal."

"Shut the fuck up." Lauren. "Stupid bitch." It was directed at Ogilvy, not me. "You're going to get Bo killed."

"She is not going to Chicago. They'll kill her." She kept talking angrier than ever.

Ogilvy used the same line on them that she used on me. "Are you aware that Evony put out a contract on you?"

Lauren laughed. "I'm not surprised."

She continued "We were fine. We were far away from those assholes and you dragged us back here. What happens when they realize we are in the country? They will kill Bo and probably Trick for good measure."

"Lauren." I put my hand on the back of her neck. "It's okay." "No, it's fucking not." She shrugged my hand off. "I didn't have much of a choice. If they arrest me, I'll get killed in prison. It won't take Vito long. This way I at least have a chance." "What fucking chance? Please don't kill me, let's be friends. Oh, and can I please have some incriminating evidence?" She had a point.

"We aren't going to send her in with nothing," Ogilvy said.

"Oh, yeah. Put a wire on her too. That will help." Lauren crossed her arms and turned away.

"We're going to release reports that Lauren has been killed. Bo will go to Evony and demand payment. It will build trust and demonstrate loyalty," Ogilvy said.

The room went silent for an entire minute. "Well, fuck me," Lauren said. "If she dies, I'll fucking bury all of you,"

She was implying their credibility and jobs. But I was pretty sure that if I died she would actually bury all of them. Like six feet under.

"Noted." Ogilvy. 

* * *

"How could you not tell me?" Lauren asked.

We were in a hotel suite. It was a huge improvement from the jail they'd been holding us in. Even if there was an FBI agent stationed in the main room.

"Seriously, Bo," shesaid.

"I swear, I thought you knew." I sat on the bed. Lauren stayed standing.

"Why the hell would we agree to that?" She asked. "I don't know. It's the best option." "Not if they kill you." Somehow, Lauren managed to scream under her breath. Wouldn't want the nice Fed to come in here.

"They know I killed Tommy and that other guy in Vegas," I whispered. "They'll send my ass to prison. Even if Evony doesn't have me killed in there, I'm not going to last long."

"Fuck this. Let's get out of here." Lauren marched to the window. Kenzi had grown in her, that little crazy thing.

It was sealed. "Damn it." "Babe, we're on like the twentieth floor," I said. "I'll make it work." Lauren tried to open the window that didn't open.

"Hotpants, it's not happening." I walked over and pulled her away from the window. "Besides, where would we go? We don't have passports or money. Or clothes, even."

"So what? We stay here and wait until they ship you off for your death sentence? Fuck that."

"Evony isn't going to kill me," I lied. I didn't know if he was going to kill me. It was about sixty-forty at this point. But forty percent chance of not dying was looking pretty good. I took her hands in mine and pulled her closer, I kissed her gently, I grabbed her hands harded, maybe she wouldn't realized I was trembling that way.

We tried not to make this a big deal, we pretended we weren't worried at all for the rest of the night. We even called room service, but deep down I was dying, all kind of thoughts running in my head. What if this was the last time I was going to see Lauren, to touch her, to feel her?

Everything was quiet, until, "Can you please remind me why are we doing this? Why have you done all of this?" "All of what?" She was pissed, it was like if something had clicked in her head. " Come with Dyson and I in the first time, and then join them to find me, why?" She continued. "We hated each other." "you know that's not true Lauren." "Yeah, but still, it's too much, and after you knew I joined them for Nadia…" "I don't care about that, I get it, I would have done the same for you." She looked at me surprised. "Really?" Her voice broke. "I wasn't nice with you, you didn't have any reasons.."

"Yes, I do, Lauren I love you, I already loved you back then."

And that was the first time I said it, not justa an 'I love the way you 'do something', or an 'I want you', just I love you. She realized too and kept quiet, I freaked out a bit. I know it's weird, I was gonna marry her, but still. She kept quiet, I freaked out, more. Instead of speaking she punched me, first time was softly, the next times not so much.

"Stop hitting me." I pouted while I embraced her. "Shut up." Lauren punctuated her demand by kissing me. She slide a hand into my pants. I couldn't feel anything except that so damn good feeling of Lauren filling me, taking me, unlike any girl I've ever known. The easy, hard, cadence of her fucking me was like being known. She knew when to stop, to tease, to go, to take me higher so I was poised, wanting.

Through the groans pushing past our lips, mingling in each other's breath I whispered, "Fuck, Lauren. I'm gonna...You make me..." I couldn't speak.

She didn't stop. Not that it mattered. I was gone anyway, collapsing forward into her. Reese placed an arm around my waist, the other still in the depths between us. She let me feel strong when I had nothing else to offer.

"Babe…, Bo." Reese wanted my attention. "Yeah." I raised my face to hers, afraid of what she would say. Nothing. She just kissed me and dragged my hands to her body. Her muscles twitched as I brushed her stomach, traced her bellybutton. I cupped those perfect breasts and gasped when her nipples hardened against my palms. Reese buried her face in my neck.

"Please touch me."

Without thinking, I cupped her sex in my hand, encouraged by the waiting moisture. When I pushed my hand into her cunt she started working her fingers, still inside me, slowly, echoing my movements. She placed her han don my cheek. I looked into he reyes, they where wet, almost crying.

"I love you, Bo."

* * *

The story broke when I was in the air. When I got off the plane at O'Hare, it seemed like my face was plastered on half the TVs. Thankfully, Americans don't give a shit about the news, so no one was paying attention.

I caught a cab and had the guy drop me about a mile from Vito's house. It was early evening. Still hot as fuck. The Feds had wired up a leather jacket. It had video through one of the buttons on the collar. A different button was a mic. All the wires were sewn to the seams inside the lining. I'd tried to find them, but I couldn't. Neither could Lauren.

Good enough for me. The problem was, it was way too fucking hot to wear a leather jacket.

I also had a disposable cell phone. The kind that someone on the run would buy for twenty bucks in a drug store. The kind I'd been carrying for two years. It was wired too. Just audio. And GPS. I knew there were about five Feds and twenty local cops glued to my ass monitoring the wires, but I couldn't see them. Hopefully, Vito wouldn't be able to either, or Evony for that matter. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I wanted to linger outside of Vito's house. Take a moment to breathe before walking into a death trap. But I was playing the part of nervous fugitive so I went up and knocked on the door.

His wife opened it. She made an angry face. And her face was already ugly as fuck so it wasn't a good look.

"Hey."

"Get in here, now." To facilitate my entry, she grabbed the strap of my backpack and hauled me inside.

"I...I didn't know where else to go."

She didn't say anything. And she didn't let go of my backpack either. She dragged me upstairs to one of the guest bedrooms and made me sit on the bed.

"Stay."

I stayed. "I'm sorry. I know you guys don't want me around, but—"

"Be quiet." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Vito. Or I assumed she was calling Vito. "Your bastard daughter just showed up here."

A code, but still kind of true, at least it was for a while. This one didn't require an answer key. The woman ended the call. "Strip."

"Huh?" Fuck. Shit. Fuck.

**Let me know what you think! ;)**


	25. Hopeless

**Hi guys! I'm here with another chapter! Not many thins happen in this one, it's more like a link. Hope you like it anyway! J-ru , I've already got my twitter on my profile, I'm waiting for you to sign up! ;) I'll tell you about my exams then haha. Thank you everyone for reading and for you awesome comments. Enjoy it! C.**

"I can search you, or Vito can. You can decide." I glared at her, but it didn't seem like she was going to let this one go. So I threw my backpack at her feet. The jacket tumbled out of the straps. Then I yanked off my shoes and tossed those to her. My T-shirt was sweaty. I hoped it grossed her out, but then I remembered who she was married to.

I emptied the pockets of my jeans onto the bed before dropping my pants and kicking those to her.

"Happy?" I asked. "Underwear too," was her response. Really? I was wearing a fucking thong, what could be in there?

I scowled andtook it off. I threw it at her. She caught it, held it up for inspection, then dropped it on the floor. She could have given it back, but no. I had to stand there buck-ass naked while she very thoroughly searched my clothing, felt the seams of my jeans and jacket, took the lining and laces out of my new Chucks, upended my backpack and combed the contents, took the battery out of my cheap phone, and finally made me spin in a circle to make sure there wasn't a wire taped anywhere on my body.

It was humiliating. Which was exactly what she wanted it to

be.

"You broke his heart when you left," she said. "That's dumb. I've already got a father." I replied, not that it was true though, but I was thinking about Trick.

"Get dressed." Gee, and I was so enjoying standing here naked. I pulled on my clothes, put my wallet and cell back in my pocket, and sat on the bed. "So what now?" I asked. "Are you hungry?" She sounded like she was being nice, but the face was still angry. "Starving."

"Come on."

I followed her back downstairs. She pointed at the kitchen table. I sat down. Then she brought me a beer—they kept them in the fridge for company—and pulled out the makings of a sandwich. I remembered why I used to like this woman back then, when they were the only I had, those awful months they were the closest thing to a family I had. A year and a half had gone by since I'd been in this house. But this woman remembered that I liked turkey and Swiss. No tomato. Pepper, but no salt. She used the good mustard, the kind reserved for Vito, and not offered to anyone else. That meant she still liked me. She even found a stockpile of Cheetos. 

* * *

A door slammed somewhere. "Where the hell is she?" Vito shouted. "If you're gonna kill me, can I finish this sandwich first?" I shouted back, right now I only hoped the answer was yes.

Vito stomped into the kitchen. His wife set a second sandwich on the table. Then gave Vito a look that made him sit down. He ate the first half of his sandwich without breaking the death stare he was giving me. For the second half he looked everywhere except at me.

When we were done eating, yes, we both cared too much about food, sometimes I wondered if we were related, Vito stood and grabbed the collar of my shirt. I snagged my beer and let him drag me to my feet.

"Wait," She said said. "Not now." Vito twisted my shirt so it was choking me a little. "You need to know—" "Not now!" Vito hauled me into the study. "What the hell are you doing here?" "Where the hell else am I going to go?"

"I don't care where you go." "I got nothing, Vito." "That is not my problem." "Just help me out a little, okay? I need somewhere to hide. I need some way across the border. Help me, please," I was begging. I was giving him the power. He liked power.

"No. You made your choice. The family will not help you. Now get out of my house." Vito pointed toward the door.

"Fine. Pay me and I'll go." I didn't stand. I just took a drink of my beer.

"Pay you? Pay you what?"

"Don't play dumb. It was a stupid fucking accident, but I still deserve to get paid. You owe me that at least."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

For a moment, I thought he was just covering his ass. It's not a good idea to admit that your associates put a contract on someone. But then I realized that he actually didn't know.

"Oh my God." "What?" "You don't know." "I don't know what?" And that was when his phone rang. He grunted some mono-

syllabic words, glared at me, grunted some more, then hung up. "Stay here."

I waited all of sixty seconds before following him to the TV.

"...crime of passion. The agents in charge of the investigation report only that the murder was brutal, the victim stabbed half a dozen times, before the suspect fled the scene. The suspect, Isabeau Dennis, is thought to be armed and should be considered dangerous. The victim's brother, is also sought for questioning; however, the police maintain that he is not a suspect in this case."

Vito turned off the TV and slowly turned to look at me. "You killed Lauren."

I spun and walked back to the kitchen. I left my empty beer bottle by the sink and grabbed a fresh one. After a fruitless two minute search for a bottle opener, I sat cross-legged on the floor, and stared at the beer that I couldn't open. Vito took the bottle out of my hands, popped the top with an opener that was stuck to the side of the fridge, and handed it back. I drank half. Burped. Hiccupped.

"She was going to leave me," I told my beer. "Lauren?" Vito asked. "Yeah. I was going to propose and she decided to leave me. I bought a ring and everything. When I showed Dyson, he told me not to do it. The bastard knew. He knew she was going to leave me, for another woman again, that fucking blonde bitch, Tamsin or something like that." I had tos ay something and I knew her lovely mother would be listening. "They were going to take off with the money and leave me with nothing. After all I fucking did for them." I looked up at Vito. "After all I fucking did for them," I shouted. "Now I got nothing." 

* * *

"Come on." Vito held out his hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. "Do you have a change of clothes? We are going to see someone."

"I have a clean T-shirt." I shrugged.

"Okay, go change." Vito tried to take the beer, but I wouldn't give it up.

I went upstairs, changed into a less funky shirt, and put my shoes back on. I remembered to grab the jacket. Hopefully, it would cool down enough for me to wear it.

Vito was waiting downstairs. He was on his phone. I waited until he ended the call. He clapped a hand on my shoulder and led me out to the car.

I realized as I climbed in the passenger seat that this might be my last car ride. Which was fucking depressing so I ignored that particular thought. Vito was a pretty easy guy to read. When he was pissed, he let you know. And when he was feeling kind, he showed it. He had opened my beer. That was nice Vito. Nice Vito didn't want to kill me.

I was placing all my bets on someone opening a beer. Not a great move.

I didn't pay much attention to where we were driving until I realized that we were in a familiar neighborhood. Evony's neighborhood.

"What the fuck, man?"

"Excuse me?" Vito asked. "You're taking me to Evony. She will kill my ass for sure." "Ev won't kill you. She may not like you very much, but she isn't going to kill you." Ev? What the fuck? "The bitch is psycho," I said. "Hey, watch your tongue. She could have killed you a hundred times and she didn't." He liked her, I could tell. "Great, that makes me feel all better." I rolled my eyes. "If I die, it's your damn fault." "Calm down." Vito parked in front of Evony's house. "I'm having trouble staying calm in general. This is not helping."

Vito got out of the car and waited for me on the sidewalk. Reluctantly, I got out. For good measure, I pulled on my jacket. It was getting dark. Good enough. By the time we got to the door Evony was waiting. She looked not happy. We followed her inside.

Alexis, and Vito went into another room, leaving me with two angry looking thugs. "Hey, guys." Nothing.

"You want something to drink?" I turned to go into the kitchen. "Sit down," One of them said. "Fine." I fell onto the couch. As far as they knew, I'd done them a massive favor. They could at least be cool about it. We spent an awesome ten minutes in silence. They were trying to have a staring contest with me. I made just enough eye contact for them to know I was aware of it, then pointedly, disinterestedly, looked away.

"Bo," the new boss, Evony, said. "Evony." I figured if we were saying names. "I understand that I owe you a debt of gratitude, or that's what my predecessor would have said." "Whatever."

She stepped closer to me. From behind her, Vito gave me a hard look that made me get off my ass. As I stood, she held out her hand. I shook it.. But that wasn't her plan, she pulled me much closer and she kissed me hard, but briefly. She smelled like lavender, but with something musky underneath it. And cigarettes.

Evony gestured to Vito who handed her a small duffle bag. Then she gave me the duffle. It was lightweight and a little bulky. Cash.

"For taking care of the problem," she said. "Huh?" "That bothering bitch who considered herself too good for the family." I didn't like not being able to answer that, or to punch her in her face.

"Killing your competitor is only worth ten grand? So you're cheap, in addition to being an asshole." I spatted. "I had no competiton, not back then, no never."

"We will escort you to a safe house. In a few days, we will have arranged for new identification and safe passage to Canada." She expected me to fall at her feet and thank her. Fat fucking chance. But something was wrong, how on earth would Evony let this go, and give me money for it? Something was really wrong, she knew I still had 'their' money, I killed the fucking boss. More importantly, I hadn't gotten enough information. Unless being an evil asshole was a crime. Which totally should have been.

I guess I was too quiet for too long because Vito said, "Bo?" "What?" I jerked a little when he said my name. "Are you all right?"

"Uhh, yeah. I was trying to think of decent leverage to keep me alive, but I got nothing. So, please don't kill me?" I realized after I said it that it was exactly what Lauren would have said, trying to look hopeless but never loosing the sarcasm, so I could still feel some dignity . And she was Smart, wasn't she?

The safe house they took me to was in a suburban neighborhood outside the city limits. It looked like a lot of other suburban neighborhoods I'd been in.

They led me inside the house. I was given a room on the second floor and told to keep away from the windows. One of their lackeys took the room across the hall. The other one took the one next to mine. Evonyclaimed the master bedroom, obviously, wait, why the fuck was she staying? How was I supossed to sleep like that? Vito went out to get us some dinner, he on the other hand, was good news, he liked me and that felt like a little protection. I felt naked, vulnerable, more than ever.

* * *

I jumped on the bed and look at the ceiling. I needed to clear my head, I didn't know why I was still alive, why they had been so kind to me. Something was wrong, I could smell it. I assumed that they would want more information to decide what to do with me, but why let me live? They had everything they wanted, I here, Lauren supposedly dead. They just lacked the money, that had to be it, I didn't even have an excuse for that. If Lauren was dead, I would have the money and I wouldn't be asking for help, at least not money. Damn, I hadn't thought of that, the fuckng detective hadn't thought of that. I had to buy time, probably the little I had left.

**So..?**


	26. Wired and fucked

**Hey guys! This chapter is intense, not in a good way though, hope you don't wanna kill me at the end ;) Thank you for reading, you're awesome! C.**

The next morning, I fell out of bed and pulled my jeans back on. I remembered at the last second to grab my phone and pocket it. Wouldn't want to forget my wire.

One of Evony's 'employees' had retrieved my backpack from Vito's. But I hadn't packed much so I only had one more clean top. I wasn't going to waste it when this one only had half a day on it. I wasn't too concerned with appearances.

There was coffee brewed downstairs. After opening every cabinet in the kitchen, I found the mugs. Fortified against everything except bullets, I went to find my keepers. Or guards. Or saviors. I wasn't sure yet.

They were playing Xbox. Cards were so passé. They barely acknowledged me, which I was fine with.

"Am I allowed to go out in the backyard?" One of them grunted. "Keep the door open so we can hear you. And don't let the neighbors see you. So no looking over the fence or anything," The other one said. I saluted them with my coffee and went out back.

It was nice out. Warm, not hot. Kind of sticky, but I didn't mind it. I'd grown up in dry, hot heat. Cali was like that. So humidity was a novelty to me instead of straight up annoying.

I wondered where Evonys was. Only briefly. Then I realized that if she wasn't giving me shit or beating the crap out of me, I was happy. Of course, the more she gave me shit, the easier it would be to piss her off and make her slip. If I could just get her to say something stupid, then I could get the fuck out of here. Go home, wherever that was, with Lauren. I'd never have to see these assholes again. Except maybe in court. That would be ideal. Actually, it would be ideal if they all just killed each other.

The only good thing this family had ever done was make Lauren. I thought the siblings were my salvation. Maybe they were. In a weird, codependent sort of way. But like a healthy codependence. It was a little sad that the old boss never realized that they could have saved him too. Carry on a legacy that wasn't built on hatred and fear.

That was his legacy. Evony, in her depravity, was exactly the legacy he had created.

If you build your life, your world on tradition, at some point all you're left with is a dying regime. Evony had changed the game, expanded it, but her foundation was crumbling. It didn't matter how much she updated it. Something, somewhere was going to break.

I realized then, in that sunny moment on the porch of a mob safe house, that I had to win. Not just for my safety or that of the people I loved, but because the 'family' needed to be taken down. Maybe some new crime family would take their place. I couldn't control that. But this was something I could control. Maybe they would kill me. Maybe I'd be a footnote in Ogilvy's case file. But I would do everything I could to change the outcome of this contest. Simply because it was the right thing to do. All I had to do was survive the next week.

A door inside slammed. I knew somehow that it was Evony. She stopped and spoke with her employees. I could hear their voices, but I couldn't really hear what they were saying. I didn't give a fuck either. I just drank my coffee and enjoyed the sunshine.

I wondered where Dyson and the others were. Probably driving each other crazy. I knew where Lauren was, safe. Thinking about them must have made me reach for my necklace because, when Evony stormed outside, she found me dragging the charm back and forth across the chain. She stared at the necklace and looked like she might hurl. For a devious bitch, she was surprisingly bad at hiding certain reactions.

"I thought you should know that you'll be out of here in two days," she said. "Okay."

"Shouldn't you be happy?" I shrugged. "I find very little to be happy about." Evony rolled her eyes. "She was a useless little shit. Let it go." My hands started to shake. I tried to hide the tremble, but she saw it. "Oh God. Why did you even like her? She didn't have a single redeeming quality."

"Fuck you." I stood to go inside.

"What's the matter, Bo? Don't like hearing about how pathetic your little friends are?" She was trying to piss me off. Hell, if she wanted to pick a fight I was cool with that. Did she just say 'are'?

I spun back to face her. "They weren't just my friends. They were my family." I found it quite hard to say 'were'. I was refering to Dyson as well, of course. "And Lauren wasn't my friend, we were a couple."

"Looks like she didn't want you that much." She mocked.

Evony laughed. "What a sad little world. Trust me. You did us all a favor. The only thing you could have done better was kill Dyson too."

I was suddenly furious. "Shut the fuck up. I don't want to hear any more of your shit."

"Maybe I should just do you a favor and kill him myself."

I bitch-slapped her. Hard. I'd like to say I wasn't proud of slapping Evony. Violence wouldn't solve my problems. But it was one of the most satisfying things I'd ever done.

In an instant, one of the guys had me locked in an iron grip. I didn't know where he had come from, or how he had gotten there so fast. I decided not to fight his hold. Wouldn't get me anywhere.

She stared at me with something icy and terrifying in her gaze. Every inch of me was suddenly very, very cold. She slid close to me. I started to squirm inhis grip. I didn't know what was coming, but I knew it was bad. Evony twined her fingers into my hair and yanked until my ear was pressed to her lips.

I expected to her whisper. She didn't. She didn't yell either. I think she just wanted to touch me as she delivered her threat. As if forced intimacy would make it more threatening. It did. "You pull that shit again and I will kill Dyson." With every sentence, she tugged on my hair. "I'll get off on it." I tilted my head to take off the pressure. "I'll track him down and watch him die." She pulled hard enough to bring tears to my eyes. "Just like I did to their mother."

I was suddenly filled with a sort of pure happiness. Followed by utter panic. Evony had just told me she was a murder. Would that be enough to put her away? Was she making shit up just to get to me? Would I live to testify?

I didn't know.

Almost as an afterthought, I realized that Evony had killed Elizabeth. That the warm, vibrant woman who had taught me to swim, and played endless games of hide-and-seek, and given me hugs when I fell was deliberately taken by the fucker standing in front of me.

* * *

Vito got takeout for lunch. I couldn't eat. I didn't try. I just sat outside, wishing I could run away. When I had enough, would the Feds pull me? Why hadn't they done so already? Maybe hers confession hadn't been enough. Maybe there wasn't evidence to back it up. Maybe someone else had killed Elizabeth. Maybe no one was even monitoring my wire.

That night I couldn't sleep either. But when I finally crashed, I crashed hard. Blissful, dark sleep. That was probably why I didn't notice Evony coming into my room. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized that something was off. Literally. 

I rolled over, sat up. And something was missing. A slight weight on my chest. Its comfort had followed me from Vegas to Spain. My hand went to my throat, as if the act of reaching for it might bring it back. It didn't. The necklace was gone. I didn't know how she had managed to get it off me while I was sleeping, but I knew Evony had taken it. Why would Vito have any use for it, any need? But she required a trophy of some sort. A tie to the family. A severing of my own tie to the family.

I was so pissed about what she took, I didn't even think about what else she might have done.

I ran downstairs. "Evony!" No response. "Bitch, where the fuck are you?"

"She went out." One of the guys met me at the bottom of the stairs. "Get her back here. Now." "She'll be back," he said. "Now, God damn it."

"Sorry." He walked away.

I realized I didn't have my phone. Or pants. So I booked it back to my room. I punched in Vito's number with one hand and pulled on my jeans with the other.

"Hello?" "It's me." "Why are you calling me?" he asked. At least he recognized my voice. "Evony took my necklace. I want it back. Fucking now." "Why would she do that?" "You really want me to speculate on that?" I asked. "No. I'll make some calls. Stay there." And he hung up. He sounded pissed. It was probably stupid to call him. But hewas my best chance. And I was getting that necklace back. Evony was a stupid motherfucker.

It was late when Vito finally showed up. Well past dark. He was alone.

"Come with me," was all he said.

I didn't hesitate. Just grabbed my jacket and followed him. Probably shouldn't have. If a mobster orders you to do something, do the opposite. Also, run.

The car ride was oppressively silent. We didn't go to Evony's house like I expected. We ended up somewhere downtown. It was Thursday night. Warm enough and close enough to the weekend to be busy. People were out. Going to dinner. Hitting the clubs. I remembered being one of those people. Simple, in a way. Unencumbered. I didn't want the weight I now carried. Like some sort of grotesque interpretation of adulthood.

Instead, I was here. With Vito. Wearing two wires and praying that this time, this conversation, would be enough to put him away, would be enough to keep the twins and me safe.

Vito pulled into a parking garage and drove to the top floor. It was empty. Except for two cars filled with Evony's and Vito's guys. Bad sign.

"Uhh, Vito, what the hell is going on? Why are all these people here? Why didn't they all just go to the safe house?"

* * *

I didn't need to list off all their names. And I had a decent idea of why we were there. I wasn't going to live through this night. Unless the Feds were listening to my list and following my GPS. They needed to haul ass, because no one else was coming to save me.

Vito didn't answer me. Instead, he carefully pulled the car in next to the others so they formed a loose triangle. They thought I was going to run. They were right. I tried to open the door before Vito stopped, but the locks were engaged. We stopped. One of the guys waited until Vito popped the lock and opened my door. He hauled me out with an iron grip on my arm.

"What the fuck, man? Let me go," I shouted. Where the fuck were the Feds?

They took me to the floor and started kicking me, it lasted minutes that felt like hours. They took my jacket and my phone.

"What the fuck?" I shoved Evony out of the way and ran to the edge. I planted my hands and hauled myself up to look over. The wires were gone.

"God fucking damn it. Why the fuck did you do that?" I shouted. There were people down there. Maybe they could help me. "Help. Please I'm being—" I was going to say kidnapped. It felt dramatic, but it was true. I didn't get to finish though cousetwo guys held me.

They carried me back to cars and set me down.

"You walked into my house with a wire," Vito said. "What the fuck did you expect me to do?" I asked. Vito punched me. In the stomach. I doubled over. Shit. I'd been here before. It wasn't pretty. But maybe if I took the beating, it would give the Feds time to show up and arrest their asses.

"You stupid bitch." Evony.

The second I straightened, she punched me in the face. Right below my eye. My cheek got warm. It was going to swell. Or was it? Would they execute me before I had a chance to show the evidence of this beating?

"We need to move this," Vito said.

Evony nodded. She climbed into one car. Vito picked me up and shoved me in his trunk. I started screaming. He closed the trunk. It was dark. I heard car doors slam and engines start up. I stopped screaming.

I was going to die tonight. I felt around the trunk, but there was nothing in there. No weapons. Not a damn thing. Vito probably had experience transporting people in the trunk of his car. He probably knew to empty it when he was planning on putting in a body. Or at least the live ones.

So I did the logical thing. I started screaming again and kicking, punching, beating on the top of the trunk. Maybe someone would hear me. Maybe they wouldn't.

After what felt like a really long time, but was probably only ten minutes, I stopped yelling. My throat was raw. My hands hurt. More bruises that would never come to fruition. I started to cry. This was not what I wanted. I'd never really had a plan for my life, but that didn't mean I didn't want to live it.

I remembered that last summer before Lauren and Dyson, Kenzi and I left home. I wanted ten more of those summers. No, forty more. I wanted camping trips. And beer and darts. I wanted that feeling back where I looked at Lauren and my stomach dropped. I wanted to return to the airport at home and tell Lauren to get back on that plane and graduate from Yale. I wanted nights of six-hour movie marathons with Dyson, I wanted to kiss his hairy face again. I wanted to dance with Kenzi and have her mock me. I wanted to go to her an Hale's wedding. I wanted to help Hale choose his wedding hat. I wanted to play pool with Tamsin and talk with her about all the girls in town, I wanted to dye her hair again and have one of those awkward hugs we barely shared. I wanted all of the meaningless things we did to fill time. All of the silly entertainments that make a community. Our group was small and it was arbitrary, a collection of people who didn't quite fit in with the other first graders, but it was ours.

I missed Trick. I still kind of wanted to slap him, but I also wanted to hug him. Hold him tight and tell him that this wasn't his fault. I was going to die tonight, and he would carry that forever. No grandparent should bury their grandchild.

More than anything, I wanted to tell Lauren I was sorry. I wanted to give her a lifetime. And all I'd offered was a year and a half. I should have told her in second grade that I was madly in love with her. I should have told her in twelfth grade that I wanted to grow old with her. I should have given her a decent proposal. Had I showed her that I loved her? I'd tried to show her.

All I really wanted was to feel, to kiss, to fuck and to marry Lauren.

But I was going to die.

**So...?**


	27. Darkness

**Hey guys! I bring you a new one. This is too short, I know, but I'm really trying hard to keep this going fast and survive my exams all at the same time. Hope you like it though. I want to dedicate this to J-ru413 for doing as I ordered and sign up :P Thank you all for reading! C.**

The tears ran down my face and collected in my ears. Snot ran down the back of my throat. I coughed and choked.

Was this how I would die? Sobbing over my own demise? Shot in the back of the head by a thug? Lauren would have to identify that body. That faceless sack of meat.

No. Fuck that. I wasn't done yet. I was going to get out of this. And if I couldn't, I would die trying. I wouldn't die waiting and dreading a bullet.

I turned onto my side to do a second survey of the trunk's interior. A pressure eased from the center of my back. That was when I remembered the spare tire. In most trunks they were under the mat. I felt along where I'd been laying. There was a small ring. I scooted back as far as I could and pulled up. The mat was attached to a piece of board. From where I was, I couldn't reach around it to get to the juicy insides. So I kicked the board. It jerked out of my hands. I pulled it back up and tried again. After about twelve kicks, it started to bend. With some effort, I managed to get it folded down a bit. Just enough to reach over it. There was a spare tire. I could feel a toolbox of sorts beneath it. I had to get to that toolbox. But no matter what I did, I couldn't lift out the tire. Not from this angle. I just didn't have the leverage.

The road we were driving on got bumpy. Like it hadn't been paved in a while. It probably wasn't noticeable while driving, but from the trunk, it was very apparent. I gave the tire one last-ditch effort and failed. The car stopped and the engine turned off.

There was a series of car doors slamming before the trunk was opened. I heard Vito's rumbling voice, but couldn't understand what he was saying. I couldn't see him because I was barricaded behind the now bent floorboard. The board was jerked down. Two hands reached in to grab me. I kicked out and connected with an arm.

"Fucking bitch," Vito yelled.

* * *

It was some sort of industrial area. There were a couple abandoned looking buildings. Two close by and a mass of others in the distance. We were in a parking lot with shitty lights that cast everything in shadow. One of the lackeys was standing to my right. He was cradling the hand I had kicked. I hoped it was broken. Vito was behind him.

Vito pulled out his gun. This was happening. He nodded over me at Evony. She came forward and kicked me again.

"Get up, Bo," Vito said. He was the only one who didn't look gleeful. He seemed sad. And really pissed.

"I can't." I coughed and focused on breathing like I'd had the wind knocked out of me.

"Get her up," Evony said.

A guy stepped forward. Good. He was the one I wanted to take on. I took off like a runner from blocks and hit him full force. As we connected, I kneed him as hard as I could in the junk. He made a high-pitched noise and dropped. Evony moved to stop me, but I elbowed her in the face. There was a loud crack and she stepped back. A broken nose for my broken nose. I didn't stop to see the blood pouring from her face. It would have been satisfying, but it wasn't worth dying for.

I'd killed two of Vito's men. Helped kill a third. But I wasn't going to let my life balance the score.

I ran as fast as I could for a couple yards, then started weaving. I left the dull glow of the streetlight. I just had to get far enough away to make it hard to shoot me.

A crack, an explosion of sorts, rang out. The bullet hit my back and I stumbled. On the right side, down low. In the squishy good parts. I needed those parts. I knew that I had been shot, but somehow didn't quite process that fact. I didn't let myself process it. I just kept sprinting.

The second shot hit the back of my thigh. That one took me down. I wasn't going to let them win though. I couldn't. I forced myself to stand up. Fire burned up my leg. The kind of searing pain that can't be ignored. I took two more steps before my leg collapsed. I wouldn't be walking anywhere.

I could feel the warm, wet rush of blood soaking my shirt. The bullet must have gone straight through my stomach because the entire bottom half of my shirt was sodden. I clasped my hand ineffectually over the wound. More out of a sense of duty than to stop the bleeding. I knew that I was going to bleed out. If they didn't kill me first.

I tried to push with my elbows and good leg. A sort of backward crawl. I got about an inch before I heard the crunch and rasp of loafers on the crumbling pavement. As I collapsed onto my back, Vito stepped into my sightline. He stood over me, a look of pity on his face. Then he pointed his gun at my head. A shot rang out. The world went dark. 

* * *

If this was hell then they'd done a damn good job. But this wasn't hell because I didn't believe in that shit. Or heaven. Or God. Just me. I believed in me. And I was in pain. And darkness.

That was the part of hell they'd done a good job on.

I couldn't think straight. Or not straight. I couldn't think at all really. But I could hear. Footsteps. Voices. Maybe this was purgatory. I didn't know anything about that except that it was somewhere between heaven and hell. Which would make sense. I could hear Lauren. That was heavenly.

Except I knew she wasn't real. Maybe the hell part was that I could hear her and I knew she wasn't real. As if this parade of voices of people I loved was there to torture me. Seemingly real, but so sad that I knew they weren't.

This wasn't real. This wasn't life. They weren't here. Lauren and Dyson. Kenzi and Hale and even fucking Tamsin.

For a moment, I even thought I heard Christopher and Derek. Which was insane because I didn't know where I was, but I knew they couldn't be there.

I'd done things to survive. I'd committed other sins out of pure rage. And there were things I had watched when I should have stopped them. Stopped them or walked away. Vex's executions were on my hands. I knew Vex, that bastard. I knew that when someone had witnessed as many murders as I had, that they couldn't be clean. So whatever dirty place this was, I knew I was alone. My family didn't belong here.

Was this all that death offered? A vague sense of regret that couldn't be articulated, but couldn't be escaped either?

No. Because this wasn't death. Because I didn't believe in an afterlife. Did that mean that this was real? 

* * *

I woke up two days after I'd been shot. I didn't know that it was two days later. I just knew it was a long, long darkness later. When I woke, I was alone. My dreams had been playing cruel tricks on me. There was no family here. Only a woman in scrubs that I didn't know. She went off to bring back someone else in scrubs. They asked me questions. I answered them. I had questions, but I didn't ask them. I was pretty sure no one could answer them.

But then Tamsin walked into the room. And I was so surprised that I thought I was dreaming again.

"Well fuck me. Isabeau Dennis, you dumb bitch." That was when I knew it was real. "Tamsin?" "Yes, it's me. You asshole." She sat next to my bed and grinned at me. "When you get out of here, I'm going to punch your teeth out so you'll have to come right back to the hospital." "That's my line bitch."

"Fuck. I better go get everyone. They'll kill me otherwise."

"Is everyone here?" Those three words were really hard to say. Like pushing shards of glass into an emotional void.

Tamsin nodded grinning. "Stay here, okay? It's really hard to track your ass down." She laughed at his own joke.

"Wait. Are they mad?" I asked. "I know I am." But she didn't look mad. "I'm sorry."

"You should be. We waited fifteen fucking years for you and Lauren to hook up. And then, when finally everything seemed right andwe were millionaires you run off to the feds and face them on your own, not letting us see the finale of that soap opera you call life." Whoa, that was a long speech for Tamsin, but she looked happier than eveer, so I guessed it had something to be with that.

I grinned and it felt real that time. "My bad."

"You don't even know. Kenzi and I stashed a bottle of celebratory champagne when we were seventeen. It's been gathering dust for five years. Now we can't even enjoy it 'cause it's gone to shit." I laughed at her. "All right. I'll be right back."

I'd almost dozed off when Dyson and Lauren walked in a minute later.

"You're awake," Dyson said. "Trying to be." For real. Staying awake was hard.

"I told you they were going to kill you," Lauren said. "Yeah, well, they didn't." "Fuck, I'm glad they didn't." Lauren leaned down and kissed me, then she got in the bed with me as Dyson looked away, we didn't stop kissing, her hands in my face, my neck, everywhere. It seemed like she was trying to realized I was real and alive, and she made me felt those two things. We hugged, we tangled our bodies, we wishpered everything and nothing. She took my hand and tangled our fingers, I felt the ring on her finger. I was gonna marry that woman. "You reek like a hospital." She pulled away and grinned. "Better than a morgue." I winked at her.

"Any chance you guys know what happened?" I was pretty sure I was going to crash any minute, but I needed to know what the hell was going on."

" Fuck you Bo Dennis, you're so going to die!" Kenzi's voice filled the room, she could have broken the door when she opened it. She run to my bed and jumped on, she hugged me and it hurt but I didn't give a shit, I hugged her back as if my life depended on it. We stayed like that some minutes, I felt at home for the first time. I still didnt know what the hell happened and that made me nervous deep down though.

"Excuse me." Kenzi swallowed hard like she was trying not to cry. Then she bolted.

"So the reunion is going well," I said. "She's upset." Lauren shrugged." "Can't blame her. You know how she feels about being 'abandonned'." "Nope. Hale has been trying, but I think she's more mad at him now than anyone else." "Hale is here?" I felt my eyes close as I asked the question, but I fought and opened them again. "Christopher and Derek too. Long story. It'll wait though. Go back to sleep."

"Mmm, 'kay." I closed my eyes. "Wait." I forced them open again.

"What, sweetheart?"

"Stay. Okay?" That was hard to ask. Not because of what I was asking. Not anymore. It was hard because words were hard.

"I will." "Promise?" "Always."

I believed her. So I went to sleep.

**Let me know what you think!**


	28. Released

**Hey guys! Hope you like this more than I do. Enjoy and thank you! C.**

The next time I woke up, it was to Derek. I was hoping for Lauren. But her father would have to do.

"Why the fuck aren't you in Spain?" I asked. Derek turned away from the window he was staring out of. "You're awake." Why did people keep asking that? Obviously, I was awake. I'd never been one for talking in my sleep. Well, except for that dream where I would yell. But I hadn't had that in a year.

"Sort of."

Derek sat next to me and smiled in that sad way everyone seemed to have suddenly mastered. "Dyson e-mail us. He made it clear that we needed to come back and give the Feds everything we had on the family."

"Why? They'll probably arrest your asses."

"He was hoping that we would have enough information for a few arrests. That way the Feds would pull you."."

I laughed. "How'd that work out?" "Not very well." "No shit." "No, I mean that we didn't land in the States until after you had been shot." Tentatively, he put his hand over mine. It was awkward, but I didn't care because it was also nice. And I was too sleepy to give a fuck.

"Did you at least give them something good?" "I suppose." He shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Bo." "Don't be. Just tell me that they got 'em." "I'm not privy to everything that is going on, but yes, arrests have been made. Only time will tell if they stick." "Got it." I yawned.

"I'm sorry. Go back to sleep."

"Where's Lauren?" I was more curious than anything. She had promised. So I knew she was nearby.

* * *

After a few days, I was transferred to a different room. Some dude, I think he was my doctor, explained somethings about my being shot. I didn't follow most of it. He said I'd lost a shitload of blood. That was from the one in my stomach. I was growing a whole new collection of scars.

The one in my thigh wasn't bad. It had just thrown my leg into shock. That was why I hadn't been able to run. The doctor said I'd be walking again soon. That was a plus.

He hadn't been able to tell me why the fuck I was still alive. I asked about the bullet wound in my head. That made him question my sanity because there was no bullet in my head. I'd only been shot twice. He didn't know what had happened to get me there. He only knew that I came in bleeding and they made the bleeding stop.

I appreciated that. 

On the first day in my new, fancy room, Ogilvy came to visit me. Probably because I was finally able to stay awake for longer than five minutes at a time. Made conversation a bit easier.

"Bo. Glad to see you awake." Her business-like tone couldn't hide the blend of kindness and fear lurking beneath the surface.

"Same here. Did you get the fuckers?" She laughed. Out loud. Point to me. "We got the fuckers." "What about Evony?" I asked. It was a long shot, but I figured

I'd ask anyway. "After your initial exchange we got the warrant signed for her arrest. We have had a team following her for two days waiting for the signal to arrest her. She is currently in custody."

"Wait, what? What did you get her on?" Ogilvy looked at me like I was stupid. No surprise. "Really?" "What did I miss?" "No wonder you were so casual." "Huh?" "You got her to admit that he was paying you ten thousand for killing Lauren. That was enough for an arrest. A nice solid case, easy conviction. Evony isn't going anywhere." She said not looking at me.

"Shut the fuck up." I spatted. Ogilvy laughed again. "What the fuck happened?"

"I'll give your fiancee the privilege to tell the whole story." The detective smiled and walked towards the door, leaving it open.

A few seconds after Lauren walked in the door, she approached slowly, her eyes fixed on mine. I could see the tears about to escape as she looked at me lying on the bed. Did I look that bad?

She sat on the bed and took my hand in hers. She looked at our tangled hands. Tears roamed her cheeks and lost in my sheets.

"You have no idea how scared I was." Lauren seemed fine days ago when everyone else was around me. But she was not. She was distant, sad. "I wanted to kill her, wanted her dead." She cried even harder, she almost fell on me, hiding her face in my neck. I put all my effort to embrace her as hard as I could.

"Lauren , what happened?" He shook his head still hidden in my neck , "Shh , it's okay , baby, everything's over . " She lifted her head , had calmed down a bit .

"I was with the feds, listening , when everything had more wires placed in some of their cars. " She swallowed and continued. " I wanted to go and help you but the detective wouldn't let me , so I punched her in the face and left the van where they were monitoring you . They were never far from where you were, they didn't did such a bad job ." She was playing with my fingers as she spoke, never looking at me, just down . "It wasn't hard to find , I had been in that area before with them so... " Tears again, each time she cried my heart shaked in my chest . "Then I saw you, there was a lot of blood and all of them were coming for you. They saw me , but I couldn't move. I don't remember well what happened next, I was over you, trying to wake you up ... I heard shots , some very close, cars pulling away, cars appearing . Ogilvy grabbed me and covered us with her body. If it wasn't for her they would have killed us both . " She sobbed, this time louder than before.

"No, Lauren , you saved me , you always do. "

We started kissing, her face was wet, her touch was even softer, we held each other in our arms and felt asleep.

* * *

It was just after dawn the next time I woke up. I heard voices in the hallway, gentle murmurs outside my room. I didn't open my eyes, just slowly processed the sound of my guard's voice and another. It was oddly familiar, but off somehow.

"Lauren Lewis" "Yeah, I have your name right here," the guard said. But Lauren was still asleep in my arms, so that was a lie.

"Thanks."

A figure appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a hoodie and jeans. Something wasn't right. The door closed softly. She walked over to me and pulled her hood off.

"Oh fuck," I said. But that was all I got out before Evony had a knife at my throat. So the federals didn't do their job as well as we thought.

"Quiet, Bo," she whispered. "If you make a sound it will wake up Lauren. Then I'll have to kill her too." I didn't say a word. "You really fucked me over, you know that?"

It didn't sound rhetorical. "You deserved it." She ignored me.

"Do you understand what you've done? I'm going to have to flee the country. I really don't like being on the run." She sounded like it was completely normal.

"How did you run away in the first place?" "They told you they had arrested me?" She mocked. Yes, they did. "Don't you want to apologize? You screwed me. You and your little girlfriend." Her eyes had gone dark, that was when I realized she was going to kill me. I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't leave her alone with Lauren.

"Come on, Evony. Don't do this. You might be able to get out of it. They don't have shit on you." I tried to scoot up the bed, take a little pressure off my neck. The muscles in my stomach screamed sharp and hard. My lungs constricted at the pain. Evony just lifted the knife higher.

"Don't lie. They already got all the family. They're going to bury me. I'm never getting out of it. So I can't let them catch me."

"So go. Go now before you add another murder to the list of charges." I tried, but deep down I knew she was full of anger, not really the time to use the logic at all.

I felt Lauren waking up. No, no, no, fuck no. She was whispering something I couldn't understand, I would have thought it was cute, if it wasn't for the situation.

She opened one eye, and she realized that something was wrong, I guess it was my body tension or maybe she felt the presence of someone else in the room. Her body tensed tooshe got up as fast as she could. Her left hand on Evony's arm, squeezing hard. I could feel the knife was separated from my neck slowly, Evony used her free hand to push harder.

Then I heard the knife drop to the floor, Evony fell over the nightstand next to the bed, Lauren had punched her. Lauren was breathing heavy. She jumped on Evony and pushed her to the floor. Evony grabbed Lauren's throat, her bloody hands slipping and trying to get a grip. Lauren slammed her knee into Evonys's side. I couldn't move, I tried hard, the stiches hurt. I felt completely helpless.

Evony grabbed the knife again, they were both on the floor, Lauren kicking her, the knife was too near to Lauren's body. But Lauren was stronger, thank god for that. She got the knife and pushed it to Evony's belly. Lauren's hands were trembling, tears running her cheeks. I knew how she felt, how she hated doing it.

Lauren dropped the knife, she fell to her knees in tears in front of Evony's lifeless body. She sobbed. I tried harder and got off the bed, I knelt beside her with some trouble and I hugged her. I kissed her head and held her.

The door opened quickly and the cop entered the room. Seriously, now?

He jumped on Lauren.

"No!" I shouted. "That's my fiancee, bastard!" He had Laurens hands almost cuffed and looked clueless. "The other one!" He looked to Evony and realised his mistake.

He released Lauren in seconds. He looked at me with his head down, ashamed. He checked Evony's pulse point, shook his head andwhispered a few words to the radio he had hooked on the shirt. He picked Evony in his armsand carried her out of the room, screaming for a doctor. I couldn't care less.

* * *

We were led to another room by another cop, I was helped by some nurses, I hadn't realized some of my stitches had come out. Some doctor took me to a box to fix them. But I was in a hurry, the only thing I wanted to do was coming back to Lauren, who was waiting me in our new room.

When I made it to the room I kissed her for hours, never leaving her lips, I kissed her face, her neck and back to her lips. We made it to the bed, still kissing, she was trembling, she was so vulnerable, so fragile.

After a while she had fallen asleep again, she needed it, she should be exhausted. I decided to get a shower. When I came out, Lauren was awake again, she looked much better, so I smiled at her. She was looking at me up and down with a smile on her face, it was a perv smile, that was when I realised I was naked.

I walked to her and took her hands in mine, our faces inches apart. "You saved me again."

"You look super hot when you're naked," she mumbled.

"Obviously." Lauren started laughing, which made me start laughing. "Oh, shit." She sat up. "I got this for you." She pulled the necklace out of her pocket. It was stained with blood. She fed it around my neck.

"Ouch. Neck wound." Seriously. Ouch. "Suck it up. I killed a bitch to get this." I started laughing again. Which didn't make the pain lessen. At all. "That's not funny." "Nope." Lauren smiled. "I'm probably gonna be totally fucked up now."

"Yeah, but I still like you." I mocked. "Only like me?" Lauren lifted an eyebow.

"I love you." She smiled "That means you're still marrying me?" I nodded and pressed my body agains hers. I kissed her, my hands around her neck, when…

"I know neither of you is ready to make a statement yet, but I do need your clothes." Ogilvy cleared her throat and held up a bundle of clothes and an evidence bag for Lauren. I grabbed the sheets to cover myself.

"Whatever." Lauren started stripping. Ogilvy kept her eyes trained on the wall. I watched Lauren get naked. How could I not? She pulled on the sweatpants and T-shirt that Ogilvy had brought for her.

"Thank you." Ogilvy sealed the bag. Blood smeared the inside of it. "Is she really dead?" I asked. "Yes." Ogilvy nodded once. "Thank you," she said again and nodded at the bag of clothes. But she made it sound like she was thanking us for more than just that. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry so I didn't say we hadn't caught her. It was a terrible mistake. I thought you deserved to be free." She looked sincere. "And don't worry, it was self-defense." She winked to Lauren.

That made me feel better. "Thanks." "Yes, thank you."

Lauren sat back down on my bed. "All right. I'll leave you two alone now." Ogilvy turned and left. Lauren stretched out next to me. I pulled her close and smelled her hair.

I realized, as I heard Ogilvy's steps echoing down the hallway, that she wasn't coming back. She didn't need to.

We were finally free.


End file.
